How To Find Your Computer’s IP Address

What is an IP address?

An IP address or better known as Internet Protocol address is nothing but a numerical label assigned to any computer or mobile device which is participating in a computer network using the Internet protocol for communication. Whenever you connect your PC or mobile to any network connection, it is assigned a unique IP address which is required for the device so that it can open web pages, send emails, participate in IM chats and so on.

Quite recently we wrote how you can find the location of an IP address using a desktop tool called IP locator. The tool shows you how you can trace the location of any internet address on a Google Map. But what about finding the IP address of your computer or when you need to know the IP address of your internet connection ?

Knowing your computer’s IP address is very simple indeed, just follow the simple steps mentioned below:

1. Click Windows start menu and type “cmd” (without quotes) in the search box. Right click the command prompt icon and choose “Run as administrator”. If you are running older versions of Windows such as Windows XP, you can open the command prompt from “Start> Run”

2. When the command prompt window appears, type the following command and hit the return key

netstat -n (donot ignore the space)

3. You will see the following results and the IP address will be shown as depicted below:

4.You will see a list of all active connections and their addresses, distributed in 4 columns.

5. The local address field shows your IP number while the foreign address column shows the IP addresses of the computer to which you are connected to or communicating with. This can include the persons with whom you are sharing Instant messages, talking over VOIP or maybe sending files etc.

6. In the same way, open command prompt, type “ipconfig” (without quotes) and hit the return key. You will see the following results:

The above command will tell you the masked IP and local IP of your computer.

Alternatively, you can also try this website called whatsmyipaddress.com, when ever you visit the website you will be shown the active IP address of your computer on the homepage itself.

Note: You may see different IP addresses after successive visits, this is perfectly normal because your internet connection settings is set to choose a dynamic IP address whenever it connects to the internet. The site also shows the most probable geographical location of the IP address as shown below:

Easiest way to find IP address: If you ask me, I do not use any of the above techniques. I use my Gmail account itself. Here is how it works:

Whenever I log into my Gmail account, I can see the last login Time of Gmail and the IP address from where my Gmail account was accessed. Hence, this is another good way to find a computer’s IP address, without having to remember any command or use any third party website

Facebook Login Problems – When You Can’t Login To Facebook ?

There are situations when you have faced Facebook login problems. The login page appears, you type in the username and password of your Facebook account and hit the “Sign In” button. After that, the page turns white and loads forever

You are either not able to access the Facebook login page or the Facebook homepage never loads completely. What should you do in such situations ?

Here is a step by step guide which will solve Facebook login problems on your side and you can be rest assured that you are able to login to your Facebook account and comunicate with friends, chat with your Facebook contacts.

Check Whether Facebook is Down For Everyone or Just You

Go to Downforeveryoneorjustme.com and enter Facebook.com in the text box. Using this site you will be able to know whetherFacebook.com is down for everyone else or is it just you who is unable to access the Facebook login page.

If it’s shown that Facebook.com is down for everyone, there is nothing you can do here. May be the developers are updating someting or Facebook servers are on scheduled maintainence. Wait for some time till the updates are rolled out and try again after half an hour or so.

If it’s shown that Facebook.com is down for only you while everyone else is able to use Facebook normally, you have to check your computer’s network preferences, Firewall and Windows’s host file.

Check Your Computer’s Host File Or Parental Controls

The Host file of Windows can be used to block specific websites from opening in your computer. If you share your computer with other family members, colleagues or friends, chances are that some of them is playing pranks or tricks with you. It might occur that one of the shared users has intentionally blocked Facebook.com login page using Windows host file or Windows 7 Parental controls.

Open Windows explorer and go to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc. Double click the “Hosts” file and open it with Notepad. You will see something like the following:

If you find an entry as shown below, you will not be able to access Facebook login page. Delete the above lines, save the hosts file and refresh the Facebook login page to see whether you are able to get through.

How to Update Facebook Status Messages from Google Talk

You cannot Update your facebook status messages from Google Talk because facebook still doesnt suports this feature. However there are neat workarounds that can be used to post your Facebook status messages from google talk Itself.

Update Facebook Status messages from Google talk using Third party Applications

Update facebook Status Messages from Ping.fm

This is the Most popular solution netizens use to update the status messages of maximum social networking sites in One go. Justsign up for an account at Ping.fm and connect your Google Talk account and Facebook profile. Whenever you change your status message in Google talk the same message is posted in your facebook  profile.

Update Facebook Status From Google talk Using Your Twitter Account

If you are active on Both Facebook and Twitter then the easiest way to update your Facebook status messages from google talk is to connect your Facebook and twitter accounts and use google talk to post messages to twitter. Following are the steps involved :

1.Sign up for an account at   Tweet.im and connect both Your twitter and Google talk accounts. After Your accounts are connected you can receive as well as Send tweets as Instant messages.

2 . Add This Facebook application To Connect Your Facebook and Twitter accounts. Remember to click  on “Allow Twitter to Update Your Facebook Status”.

You are done.Whenever You send a Message from Google talk to Tweet.im the message is shown as a Tweet in your twitter account. And almost instantly the Facebook application pulls the same tweet  and puts it in The Facebook status Message. So apparently You have Updated your facebook profile from Google talk !

If You prefer the Browser based G talk Then you can tweet by adding an entire Twitter Gadget in Your Gmail account. Thus No need To sign Up for a Tweet.im  account.

A serious disadvantage : The above two methods are real easy But  there is a serious disadvantage. The same messages gets repeated in all Your Social Networking profiles which doesn’t look good. For example : If you are on Twitter, facebook, Friendfeed etc the same message is replicated over at all places.

How to Update Facebook Status Messages from google talk Without using any Third party Tool

The Google talk Sync Facebook application  allows you to update your Facebook status from the Google Talk status line. Just change Your G talk Status and Your facebook status is updated.

The following Method Connects your Google talk account and facebook account without requiring you to sign Up at other Social Networking Sites like Twitter or Ping.fm. Following are the Steps Involved :

1. Add This facebook application in Your Facebook profile.

2. Go here and create a G talk Badge for your profile.

3. Remember to check on The checkbox “ Show Your Status Message “ In The G talk Badge you are creating.After that click “Update Badge”

4. Copy The code That You are provided and place the code In The Facebook application Box page as shown below

5.Enter an optional “Prefix” So you could set your prefix to “is”, and then “working” in Google would end up as “is working” on Facebook. “Is” or “says: ” are good options.

6. Grant the Facebook application permission  to Sync Messages to Update your Facebook status. Otherwise it won’t work.

Okay all The geeky parts are Over. Now sign In to Google talk and after That save Your facebook App. You should see Your G talk status online in the facebook app.

Now  Change your Google talk Status Message and You should see the facebook status Updating straight away.

This method doesn’t require you to sign up anywhere else and just connect your facebook and google talk accounts. All Your other social network profiles are not affected.

Do you Know any Simpler Method To update Facebook status from Google  talk  ? Did the above procedure worked for you ? I would love to Hear from you. Please feel free to Post Your Ideas as Comments.