How to Change Your Local IP Address

Your Public IP address is what identifies your computer when you to connect to the internet. It is assigned by your ISP and depending on the type of service you have subscribed to, your public IP may remain the same (Static IP) or is periodically updated (Dynamic IP). Basically if you want to change your public IP then the only way is to get in touch with your ISP or use a proxy service such as Tuxler or Hotspot Shield to hide/spoof your IP address. 

Each computer also have the local IP address. The local IP which is also referred as Private IP address is used to identify computers on the local network (behind the same router) and it is managed by the operating system. If required, the local IP of a machine can be changed via the router settings (refer to the manual provided with the router or check on the manufacturer's website) or you can change it via the Windows Control Panel.

Refresh your IP

There exists a simple command in Windows to refresh your current IP, which can be useful to fix IP address conflicts when two computers present on the same DHCP network share the same IP. But it should be noted that this procedure generates a "random IP" (within the allowed range). 

Click on Start > Run > type cmd and press Enter to open the Command Prompt. Next, type ipconfig
 to view the current address. Type  ipconfig / release , followed by ipconfig / renew
. 

Change your local IP

Open the Control Panel > Network and Sharing Center > Change Adapter Settings > Network Connections. A list of known connection will be displayed (Ethernet or Wi-Fi). Right-click on the desired connection and select Properties from the contextual menu. Under This connection uses the following items select Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP / IPv4) and then click onProperties: 

Select the Use the following IP address option instead of Obtain an IP automatically (default) and register the IP address (within the pool of acceptable IP addresses and which is not already in use by another computer), Subnet Mask, Default Gateway and DNS Server addresses:

Click on Apply > Ok.

How to Diagnose and Fix your Slow Internet Connection

Let’s say you have subscribed to a fast broadband Internet connection at home and you are getting the expected download speeds that were initially promised by the ISP.

However, sometimes it may happen that the speed of the same Internet connection slows down and then even simple websites may take forever to load on your machine.

Troubleshooting your Slow Internet Connection

There can be several reasons why you may be getting slower-than-usual Internet connection speeds. For instance, you could be accessing the web during peak hours. Or your download manager could be downloading files in the background thus consuming all the bandwidth. Or, if you are accessing the Internet over Wi-Fi, maybe you’re too far off from the wireless router.

Then there are external factors that may slow down the Internet. You are probably getting Internet through your existing phone line so if there’s a fault in the wiring, that may   negatively affect your connection speed. In fact, if your Internet connection is not stable and keeps dropping off frequently, blame the phone company.

Does Your Telephone Line Need Repair?

You don’t need any special equipment to determine if your phone line is the real culprit but before we get there, let’s run a few simple tests to discount all the other possibilities.

Test #1. Power-cycle the router and modem – unplug the cables, wait for couple of minute and then power on the modem followed by the router.

If you have been experiencing connectivity issues after a power-outage, power cycling will most probably fix the issue.

Test #2. Close all applications including any firewalls and anti-virus software. Then open speedtest.net to determine the actual download and upload speed of your Internet connection.

If you have Wi-Fi at your place, remove the router for a moment and connect the ADSL modem directly to your computer’s Ethernet port via a physical LAN cable. Repeat the speed test. Did you see any improvement in the connection speed?

Test #3. To ensure that none of the viruses or spyware programs are responsible for your slow Internet, open command prompt and run the following command:

netstat  – b  – f 5

This will easily help you figure out if any of the programs on your computer are silently connecting to the Internet without your knowledge. Should you find a strange process in the netstat result listing, kill it through the Task Manager.

Test #4. If your Internet speed woes aren’t over yet, it’s time to inspect the phone line. No, you don’t have to climb that telephone pole as the stats from your DSL modem /router will alone give the required data.

Open the web dashboard of your modem /router and note the following valuesfor the downstream connection (not upstream). The fields are generally available under Statistics – > ADSL.

1. Line Attenuation (or Loop Loss) – It measures how much signal is lost between the phone exchange and your modem. Great the distance between the exchange and your home, the higher the attenuation. Anything below 50dB is considered acceptable.

2. Sync Speed (or Rate) – The speed at which the router connects to the exchange equipment.

3. SNR Margin (or Noise Margin) – This represents the difference between your current SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio) and the SNR that’s required to serve a particular speed. If the SNR Margin is low, you may experience frequent disconnections. Ideally, this should be 12dB or higher.

Once you have all these values, paste them into the ADSL Calculator and it will give you an estimate of the maximum speed that you get from the ISP.

If the SNR Margin is low or the Line Attenuation is high or if the calculated maximum speed is lesser than what you are paying for, the fault lies somewhere between your modem and the phone exchange. Keep a record of all these values at different times of the day and give your phone company a calls at its something that only they can fix.

Expand the Range of your Wireless Network with another Router

The wireless range offered by your Internet router will vary depending on which Wi-Fi standard it supports (802.11n routers are better than Wireless-G routers) and also the router’s physical location. You may have bought a new Wireless-N or Wireless-AC router but if there are any thick walls around, they will obstruct the Wi-Fi signal.

Expand your Wireless Network Range with a Spare Router

The 802.11n routers, also known as Wireless N routers, offer a higher Wi-Fi range but even if you get one of these, the wireless signals may still not reach certain areas of your home because of all the physical obstructions.

What should you therefore do to ensure that the Wi-Fi signals are available in full strength in every corner of your house including the lawn outside? There are quite a few options.

You can easily extend your Wi-Fi network with additional networking hardware like Wi-Fi repeaters and Wireless Access Points. The other inexpensive option is that you get hold of an old wireless router, one that is longer in use, and connect it to your existing (main) router using an Ethernet (Cat5) cable.

Use a Second Router as an Access Point

Here’s how I have setup the wireless network at my home using 2 routers connected with an Ethernet cable. The main router is Wireless-N router connected to the ISP’s ADSL modem. Then there’s a second wireless router (Wireless-G) that is connected to the main router over an Ethernet or Cat-5 cable. The main router is in the ground floor while the second one is on the first floor and the entire premises get a good Wi-Fi signal.

Let’s call our main router MASTER (this is the router that is connected to the ISP modem) and the other one as SLAVE (the second router will work as a ‘repeater’ to increase your wireless range).

Step 1: First we need to determine the IP address and the Subnet Mask of our MASTER router.

Open command prompt in Windows, type the command ipconfig /all and note the value of “Default Gateway.” That your main router’s IP address. If you are on a Mac, open the Terminal window, type the command route -n get default and make a note of the gateway value.

For this example, let’s assume that our MASTER router’s IP address is 192.168.30.1 and the Subnet Mask is set as 255.255.255.0.

Step 2: Open your web browser and type the router’s IP address into the address bar. If you are using IE, you might want to add http:// to the address else IE may throw an error.

You’ll now have to provide the user name and password for accessing the router settings. This will vary depending on your router’s manufacturer – just Google for “ default router password” or try the standard combinations like admin/admin, admin/password and admin/ (no password).

Step 3: Once you are inside the router settings, switch to Wireless Settings and make a note of the Wireless mode, the SSID and the channel.

If you have protected your Wi-Fi with a password, also note down the security mode used (WPA, WEP or WPA2) and your password (or secret passphrase). Close the browser window.

B: Configure the Second Router as a Repeater

Step 4: Next we need to configure SLAVE, our second router. First reset the router to factory defaults by hard-pressing the reset button with a pin for about 10 seconds.

Now connect the SLAVE router to your computer using the physical Ethernet cable. Put one end of the cable in any of the LAN (Ethernet) ports available on the router and the other end in your computer’s Ethernet port. Make sure the router is powered on.

Step 5: Open the browser again and type 192.168.1.1 which is likely the the default internet IP address of your SLAVE router. If you are not using a Linksys router, try 192.168.0.1 which is the default IP for Netgear and D-Link routers.

Once you are in the router settings, you need to change the values of the Wireless mode, the channel, the security mode and the passphrase such that they match with your MASTER router. You can use a different SSID name for this router so it is easier to distinguish which router your phone or laptop is connect to.

Then go to Setup – > Advanced routing and change the current mode from Gateway to Router. In some routers, this is listed as NAT and in that case, you need to disable it. Next disable DHCP Server since our main router will handle the task of assigning IP addresses to devices connecting to the wireless network.

Finally, change the IP address of the SLAVE router to any free address in your LAN. For instance, if the IP address of MASTER router is 192.168.30.1, you can safely assign a fixed IP address of 192.168.30.2 to SLAVE. Also make sure that the Subnet mask is the same as determined in Step 1. Save the settings of the SLAVE router and close the browser window.

C: Connect Two Routers with a Cat-5 Cable

Now that we have configured the routers, it’s time to connect them with an Ethernet cable. Your MASTER Router probably has five (1+4) ports. The WAN port (or the Internet port) should be connected to the ISP modem. Pick any of the available LAN ports on the MASTER router and connect it to any of the LAN ports on the SLAVE router using an Ethernet cable. We’re done.

Since the two routers are part of the same home network, all your shared folders, music libraries, photos, and other files will be accessible from all computers and mobile devices that are connected to the network.

How to Connect Two Computers Without a Router

Let’s assume you have two computers at home and you want to connect them together so that you can easily share an internet connection between the two machines or transfer photos, music and other files from one computer to another. How do you do this?

Connect Two Computers with an Ethernet Cable

There are two options – you can either buy a router or, if you are looking for something more simple and don’t want to spend money on new networking hardware, you can connect the two computers using a commonly-available cable. The latter method doesn’t involve any complicated network settings and you will still be able to share files, internet connection, and even printers between computers.

To set up this basic wired home network, all you need is an inexpensive Ethernet crossover cable and the other requirement is that network cards* (also known as LAN or Ethernet cards) should be installed on each of you computers.

[*] This should not be an issue because network cards are available on most newer machines by default but if you are working with a very old computer, you can either attach an internal LAN card to your computer’s motherboard or go for a USB Network adapter that will turn a USB port into an Ethernet (RJ45) port.

An Ethernet crossover cable looks like a standard Ethernet cable but the internal wiring is a little different. You can purchase crossover cables at Amazon.com or from your local computer store. If you have trouble finding them, you can purchase an inexpensive crossover adaptor and that will let you use any standard Ethernet cable as a crossover cable.

Connect Computers with an Ethernet Crossover Cable

Before connecting the two computers with a physical cable, make sure that both machine are using the same workgroup. Here is step-by-step guide that explains how you can change the workgroup of your computers.

Changing workgroup in Windows XP – From the Start menu, right-click “My Computer.” Select Properties in the drop-down menu, and then select the second tab that says “Computer Name” from the System Properties window. Now click the “Change” button, enter a unique Workgroup name and reboot your computer.

Changing workgroup in Windows 7 or Vista – Open the Control Panel, type “Workgroup” in the search box, and select the entry that says “Change Workgroup Name.” Click the “Change” button, enter a Workgroup name and restart the computer. Windows 7 users can skip one step; simply type “Workgroup” in the search box in the start menu, and select the first entry, then proceed as above.

Now that the workgroups are same for both computers, connect the two computers together using the Ethernet crossover cable. Simply plug-in one end of the crossover cable into the network adapter of Computer A and connect the other end of the cable to the network adapter of Computer B.

Windows will automatically recognize the new network, and you can now easily view files and folder that the other computer has shared. Simply open Networks from the Start Menu (or the Control Panel), and you should see the other computer by its name. You can then browse any shared files on the other computer, and can even utilize shared printers.

Troubleshooting – If you do not see the other computer under Networks, you probably have a prompt at the top of your Network window saying that Network discovery is turned off . Select “Turn on Network Discovery and File Sharing.”  In the next prompt, select “No, make the network I am connected to a private network.”  Now you should see the other computer on the home network.

[*] While it is possible to share files between two computers connected with a crossover cable without making them part of the same workgroup, the method will only work if both computers have this network set as a private network, and may still cause problems. It is therefore advisable to have both computers on the same workgroup before sharing files and printers.

Share an Internet Connection Between Two Computers

There are scenarios where you may want to share the same internet connection between two computers. For instance:

Situation A – You have setup a Wi-Fi network at home but your old desktop computer doesn’t have a wireless network card. In that case, you can use the laptop to connect to the internet wirelessly and then share that same connection with the desktop over a crossover Ethernet cable.

Situation B – You have a netbook with a built-in cellular data connection. You can share that connection with any another computer at home through the crossover Ethernet cable.

Situation C – You use a (slow) Wireless USB modem with your laptop computer while your desktop is connected to an ADSL Broadband line and there’s no router at home. For any bandwidth intensive tasks, like when you want to backup photos from your laptop to an online service, you can connect the laptop to the desktop and things will happen much faster.

OK, let’s look at the steps required for sharing an Internet connection.

First, if you only wish to share internet connection and not files, both computers need not belong to the same workgroup. All you need to do is to connect the two computers with the Ethernet crossover cable, and then turn on Internet connection sharing in the computer that already has an Internet connection. The instructions vary for different versions of Windows:

For Windows XP – Select “Network and Internet Connections” from the Control Panel and click “Network Connections.”

Right-click on the network connection you wish to share (the one connected to the internet), select Properties, click on the “Advanced” tab, and then check the box that says “Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection.”  Click OK, and the second computer that you have connected to this computer with the Crossover Cable should have internet access now.

For Windows 7 and Vista – Open Control Panel, enter “network connections” in the search box on the top right and select “View Network Connections.”

Right-click on the network connection you wish to share (this must be the one connected to the internet) and select Properties. Select the “Sharing” tab and then check the option that says “Allow other network users to connect through this computer’s Internet connection.” Click OK, and the other computer you have connected to this Windows 7 or Vista computer should have internet access now.

Build a Wireless Home Network without a Router

Let’s say you have one internet connection at home that you want to share across all your desktop and laptop computers, your Wi-Fi enabled mobile phones, tablets, video game consoles (like the Xbox), digital photo frames and any other wireless devices that you may have at home.

How do you do this?

The easiest way to setup a wireless network, as we all know, is with the help of a router – just attach a wireless router to your modem and any Wi-Fi enabled gear, that’s located inside the signal range of your router, will be able to connect to the web using that lone Internet connection.

Setup Wireless Network without a Wireless Router

Now consider a slightly different scenario – you have all these Wi-Fi enabled devices at home but there’s no router. Well, there’s no reason to buy one because you can still easily setup a wireless network as long as your computers have a wireless network adapter*.

[*] Most new desktops and laptop computers are already equipped with internal network adapters so you are ready to go without a router.

If your computer doesn’t have built-in wireless capabilities, you can either buy a USB network adapter that plugs into the USB port of your desktop or go for a wireless adapterthat directly plugs into your notebook’s PC Card slot. Desktop users can also opt for an internal wireless PCI card but you’ll have to open the computer case in order to install this network adapter.

Create a Wi-Fi Network without a Router

Now that you have everything in place to create a Wi-Fi network, let’s actually build one.

For Windows XP and Vista users

If your main computer, that is already connected to the internet, is running Windows XP, Vista or even Mac OS X, you can set up an ad-hoc Wi-Fi network and the other wireless devices can then connect to the web via this ad-hoc network (also called a computer-to-computer network).

Wired Connection In, Wireless Connection Out

It’s an easy process. To set up an ad-hoc network in Windows Vista, go to Network and Sharing Center from the control panel, select “Set up a connection or network” and choose “Set up a wireless ad hoc (computer-to-computer) network”.

Make sure you select “Save this network” option else the ad hoc network will be removed if no other computers / devices are connecting to the network.

Turn on Internet Sharing in the next screen and now your other home computers can connect to the ad hoc network just like they would connect to any regular wireless network. Setting up an ad hoc network in XP takes a couple of extra steps but also make sure the host computer is running at least XP SP2 or SP3.

For Windows 7 users

If you are on Windows 7, you can instantly turn your  computer into a personal Wi-Fi hotspot without having to configure anything. All you need is a free software called Virtual Router and the computer connected to the internet must be running Windows 7.

[*] Virtual Router works will all editions of Windows 7 except the Starter edition because Microsoft has disabled the Virtual Wifi feature in that particular edition.

Using the virtual router is simple – just run the program on any Windows 7 computer, assign a password and that’s it. In the above example, I used the Virtual Router to connect an iPod, an Ubuntu Linux laptop and a Windows desktop to the Internet via a Windows 7 notebook where that virtual router software was running.

As new devices join the Wireless network, their assigned IP and MAC addresses instantly appear in the Virtual Router window. And you can click the “Stop Router” button anytime to deactivate the hotspot and disable Internet sharing.

Virtual Wi-Fi vs Ad Hoc Wireless Networking

To set up Ad Hoc networking, your main computer needs to have an Ethernet based Internet connection as well as a Wireless (WLAN) network adapter. In the case of Virtual Wi-Fi, the Ethernet card is optional so you can turn a laptop into a hotspot even if your laptop itself is connected to a Wireless network and not to an Ethernet cable.

Computers and other wireless devices in ad hoc networks must be within 30 feet of each other but there’s no such restriction in the case of Virtual Wireless networks.

Ad-Hoc wireless networking is available on Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7 while Virtual WiFi, which is much easier to setup, is available on Windows 7 or Windows Server 2008.

Related: How to Secure your Wireless Network

[*] Intel’s Centrino 2 processors include a technology called My Wifi that can also turn your wirelessly connected laptop into a personal Wi-Fi hotspot but the interesting part is that this supports Windows Vista as well in addition to Windows 7.

How to Prevent People from Stealing your Wi-Fi Network

The data LED of your wireless router is constantly blinking and none of the family members are using the Internet at home. This might indicate that someone outside – probably your neighbors – are surfing the web using your Wireless (Wi-Fi) network.

Are neighbors using your Wi-Fi network?

If you would like to confirm whether an outsider is using your wireless home network, here’s a trick. First enter the router’s IP address in the browser’s address bar – here’s how to find the router’s IP Address. Then open the DHCP Client Table (it is under Status – > Local Network – > DHCP Server for Linksys routers). This shows a list of all devices connected to your wireless network including those of strangers.

How to Prevent Wi-Fi Theft

You can’t block the Wi-Fi signals from reaching your neighbor’s house but there are several things you may do to prevent them from piggybacking on your wireless network. Some of the well-known techniques to secure your Wireless network include:

1. Setup a password for your Wi-Fi network – Open your router’s admin dashboard and set the wireless security mode to either WPA, WPA2 or WEP (use WPA2-mixed if possible). Now people would have to know the password before they can join your Wi-Fi network.
2. Use MAC Address Filtering – Your laptop computer, mobile phone, tablet and all other gadgets have a unique MAC address. Go to your router’s dashboard and under the Wireless Mac Filter section, add the MAC addresses of all your known devices so that only whitelisted devices can access your wireless Internet.

Discourage Neighbors from using your Wireless Network

Most people in the neighborhood, who are connecting to your Wi-Fi network without permission, could be doing so unintentionally just because their computer showed them that an open wireless network in available in that area.

Mikko Hypponen has a brilliant idea to discourage such people from connecting to your wireless network.

You can rename your wireless network name, also known as SSIDs to something scary – like c:\virus.exe – and your neighbors are less likely to connect to your Wi-Fi network ever again. Other suggestions for scary SSID names include Police Van and Network Service Unavailable.

To change the SSID of your wireless router, log in to your router’s admin console and rename the network under Basic Wireless setting.

[*] Find the MAC Address of your devices

If you type “ipconfig /all” at the command prompt, you can easily find the MAC address of your computer’s network card – just look for the string “Physical Address.” The Wi-Fi Mac address of mobile devices is often listed on their Settings page.

The MAC Addresses are also listed inside the DHCP Client Table of your router.

How to Transfer Files from One Computer To Another with USB Data Cables

There are probably a million different ways to transfer files, data and program settings from one computer to another computer that are not connected to each other via LAN or a wireless home network. 

You can either burn your documents, photos and other data from the source computer onto a DVD or copy it to a USB Flash drive or an external hard disk and then transfer (copy) the file to the destination computer by simply pluggin the external storage device.

Transfer Files from One Computer to Another via USB Cable

But there's another very simple option for transferring data between computers using the USB data cable - the cables are pretty cheap, work even with old computers and you can transfer any amount of data in one go unlike CDs or Thumb Drives where you are limited to the capacity of the drive itself.

Another advantage - USB to USB transfer is a faster solution since you eliminate that extra step of writing data to a temporary storage [CD or USB Drive] before moving it to the final destination.

While any USB to USB data cable available on eBay would do the job, you may want to invest in the Easy transfer cables that can transfer data from Windows XP-based computer to the PC running Windows Vista or from Windows Vista to a Windows 7 computer using the built-in Windows Easy Transfer program. 

Belkin is one such vendor of Easy transfer USB cables that can transfer upto 30GB of data in 1 hour. If you are using a Flash drive to transfer data, you may want to download a program that can synchronize folders as well.

How To Turn Your Windows 8, 8.1, 10 Device Into A WiFi Access Point

Previous editions of Windows allowed users to create ad hoc wireless connections between computers. You could use those connections to create a wireless network between multiple computers or to share the Internet connection that was available on one of them. This can no longer be done in Windows 8.1, at least not using a visual interface and the mouse. However, with the help of the Command Prompt and a few commands, you too can turn your Windows 8.1 laptop or hybrid device into a WiFi access point. Here's how:

NOTE: Lots of readers have asked us for a way to automate the steps described in this tutorial. That is why we have updated the tutorial and created a small program, which aims to automate the steps involved in this process, as much as possible. You can find more information and the download link at the end of the article. However, we do recommend that you read the whole article before using our program, so that you understand how to use it.

What You Need In Order For This To Work

In order to use your Windows 8.1 laptop or hybrid device as an WiFi access point for other devices, it must have at least 2 network cards installed and one of them must be a wireless network card. One of them must be connected to the Internet.

Setup scenarios we tested that worked great include:

• One laptop using its Ethernet connection for Internet access and its WiFi adapter to broadcast - use a network cable to connect your Windows  8, 8.1, 10  laptop to the Internet and the wireless network card for the access point that's sharing the Internet access with other devices.
• One laptop that is connected to the Internet through a USB mobile modem and broadcasts the wireless network through its WiFi adapter - many users will have a USB mobile modem available with 3G or 4G connectivity. They can use it for Internet access and use the wireless network adapter for creating the access point and sharing the Internet access with others.
• One laptop and two wireless network adapters, one connected to the Internet and the other acting as an access point - you won’t find this situation too often, as laptops and hybrid devices don't come with two wireless network cards installed. However, you can install a USB wireless adapter and use it for creating the access point.

Step 1. Create A Virtual WiFi Network in Windows  8, 8.1, 10 

To begin, we'll need to open the Command Prompt with administrative privileges and use a command to create a virtual wireless network that is broadcasted by your Windows 8, 8.1, 10  device.

To show you how this is done, we will create a wireless network called Hotspot. The password for this network will be "Allsoftlearn".

Inside the Command Prompt window, type the following command:

netsh wlan set hostednetwork mode=allow ssid=Hotspot key=Allsoftlearn

Notice that the name of the network is set using the SSID parameter and the password is set using the KEY parameter. Obviously, you can set your own values for them.

To create the access point, press Enter. If all goes well, you should see that the hosted network has been set.

Now you have created a virtual adapter that can function as a wireless access point for other computers and devices in your area. However, in order for it to work, you need to take one more step: turn on this virtual adapter.

Do not close the Command Prompt. Keep it open and enter the following command:

netsh wlan start hostednetwork

Then, press Enter.

The virtual wireless adapter is now started and shown in the Network and Sharing Center.

You can connect all your devices to the newly created wireless network. However, it has no Internet access. If you stop at this point, when you connect other devices and computers to the newly created access point, you can create a network between them and use it to share files and resources.

Step 2. Allow Internet Access For The Devices That Are Connected To The Virtual WiFi Network

Open the Network and Sharing Center. Notice that the virtual network adapter you just created is displayed as active, but it has no Internet access at this time.

Click or tap the connection of the physical network adapter that currently has Internet access. In our case, it is an Ethernet connection.

This opens the Status window for the selected network adapter. Click or tap Properties.

In the Properties window, go to the Sharing tab.

In order to give Internet access to the virtual WiFi adapter that was created earlier, check the box near "Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection".

Then, select the virtual adapter that was created earlier.

Click or tap OK and Close to save the settings you've made.

Go back to the Network and Sharing Center and you will notice that the virtual network adapter now has Internet access.

The virtual adapter now gives Internet access to all the devices that are connected to it.