What's the one unique thing that identifies your computer?
It's your MAC address. MAC stands for 'media access control'. It's a unique number that is burned into the firmware of your network card. No two network card in the world will ever have the same MAC address. It's truly a unique number. Your network card is a little piece of hardware inside your computer that allows your computer to connect to other computers. It's the place behind your computer where you plug your network cable into. The slot where you plug your network cable into is connected to the network card.
How can you identify your computers MAC address?
In most windows machines, open up your command prompt (Start-Run and type cmd ). A small, black window will appear. Key in the command ipconfig /all
This will generate the following information.
Windows IP Configuration
Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : borg
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : SiS 900-Based PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-18-8B-BA-8F-D6
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes
Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.100
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254
DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.254
Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Sunday, January 11, 2009 11:13:37 AM
Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Monday, January 12, 2009 11:13:37 AM
PPP adapter Streamyx:
Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : WAN (PPP/SLIP) Interface
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-53-45-00-00-00
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 60.10.127.168
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.255
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 60.50.111.186
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 202.188.0.133
202.188.1.5
NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled
A couple of things to take note off. The host name is the name of your computer. This can be changed within Windows to suit your liking.
Your MAC address is always listed under Ethernet Adapter Local Area Connection. Look for the line listing its Physical Address. That is your unique MAC address. In my case, the number is 00-18-8B-BA-8F-D6 The number is listed in hexadecimal format. Its a numbering system only used by computer nerds.
Lastly, take a look at your PPP Adapter Streamyx. In my case, my connection is called 'Streamyx'. Yours will have another name. But what I want you to look out for is the line called IP Address. This is the public IP address your machine displays to the Internet when you're surfing the net. Don't worry, there's no harm done with this IP being public. Every machine in the world does this and its the only way to differentiate one PC from the other in the Internet.
That's all for today.
Do comment if you require further information.
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