Kodi can be installed on Windows, OSX, Linux, Android, and iOS. It also features a 10-foot user interface that can be used with TVs and remote controls.

Kodi streaming advantages

Keep all your digital media in one place with this entertainment hub that is open source and 100% free.

Although being open source, a vast community and a committed team of volunteers supports Kodi. Extensive Wikis and forums contain a massive knowledge-base with suitable information and help aimed at everyone, from application developers to new users. Kodi can also be customized to get precisely the look and feel you want. View or play Kodi online streaming TV, podcasts, music, most videos and many other types of a digital media file from the internet and network and local storage.

Pictures and images can be imported to a library and then browsed with different views, or as a slideshow. You can also use a remote control to filter and sort your libraries. Live TV can be watched and recorded easily by using Kodi’s powerful user interface. Numerous back-ends including MythTV, MediaPortal, Tvheadend, and NextPVR are supported.

Use the enormous range of skins to change the appearance of the interface to suit your taste and needs. Kodi uses a JSON-RPC based remote interface. This enables the use of 3rd party tools, web browsers, and remote controls to take Kodi to a level seldom seen in any media player. You can control media any way you want with the support provided for hundreds of CEC-compatible TVs, remote controls, or one of the many Tablet and Smartphone Apps.

How to use Kodi addons

Kodi’s real power comes from the vast selection add-ons created by a user. Once you have installed Kodi, you can download and install whichever add-on you want right from the user interface. Add-ons will be updated automatically when new versions become available. Kodi has an impressive catalog and a wide range of different categories for its add-ons:

• Context menus
• Game add-ons
• Information providers
• Libraries
• Look and feel
• Lyrics
• Modules
• Music addons
• Picture addons
• Plugins
• Program add-ons
• Scripts
• Services
• Subtitles
• Video addons
• Weather
• Web interface

Video and Audio add-ons allow internet content to be streamed, the look and feel of the interface can be changed with Skins, Services and Programs contain tools that may be helpful, while Web interfaces are used to control Kodi remotely.

Why you should use a VPN with Kodi

When you download any content from the internet, there is always the danger that there is malware embedded in the download, and this has significant security and privacy risks. With premium Kodi add-ons, the ones available in the official repository are vetted before they are released, and the probability that they contain malware is therefore much lower, although it is still not guaranteed.

Even trusted download sources such as Google Play Store occasionally inadvertently release downloads that contain malware, although this happens very rarely. If you do download Kodi add-ons from any other source, the risk increases exponentially.

Downloading add-ons from shady sources

Apart from the threat of malware, downloading add-ons for Kodi from sources other than the official repository could contain illegal, pirated content. Kodi does not allow any addons that use pirated content to be added to its repository. Some content has limitations on where and by whom they may be used. One example would be BBC content that may only be viewed by users with a valid TV License residing in the UK.

To protect your computer against snooping and hacking, or malware attacks, and to get access to content that is only available in individual countries, you can use VPN software. A VPN (Virtual Private Network) will protect your data and prevent hackers from seeing usernames, passwords, and internet activity. The VPN will encrypt all data going from and to your device. This will ensure that no one, not even your ISP, will be able to monitor your internet activity. Here are some VPNs that we recommend: NordVPN, PureVPN, ExpressVPN.

Never, ever use Kodi without installing a VPN first! VPNs are legal in most countries, so there is no reason not using one!

Although so-called “man-in-the-middle” hijacks will be stopped by a VPN, malicious add-ons containing viruses or malware will not. It is therefore essential to still be vigilant and always make sure you have the latest and best anti-virus installed, and that it is regularly updated.

5 best Kodi add-ons for streaming

The 5 best Kodi add-ons for online streaming presented in the list below all stream entirely legal content. Although many other Kodi streaming add-ons are very popular and provide excellent content, they are often illegally pirated. You may obtain the same content legally, but it does naturally come at a cost.

1. PlayOn

PlayOn allows you to integrate paid streaming services into Kodi. Services supported include Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and Netflix. PlayOn is a Kodi streaming DVR that saves video files to an MP4 format for playback. PlayOn will cost you $2.50 per month, and it has a handy feature that allows you to skip ads automatically. You need a Windows PC for recording the video, but the add-on can run on any operating system.

2. YouTube

YouTube is still a top-rated source for movies and live TV shows. Anything you can find on YouTube is available on this add-on. The most significant advantage of using the YouTube add-on rather than using the site through a web browser is that you can bypass all video suggestions and side banners. Even annoying advertisements that play before videos don’t show when using the addon.

3. PlayStation Vue

PlayStation Vue is the TV streaming option for PlayStation. Once you have signed up for an account, you can access it through Kodi TV streaming by using the addon.  This service is relatively expensive at $39.99 per month, but it offers a DVR option for recording movies and shows, as well as an on-demand TV show and movie streaming, similar to a cable subscription service.

4. FilmRise – YouTube

If you want to watch tons of films legally, this addon may be just what you’ve been looking for. FilmRise is a movie TV and film distribution company that purchases licenses and then offers the content free online. FilmRise lists more than 7,500 titles on YouTube, and these are available through Kodi. There are different FilmRise Kodi addons – the one we recommend is FilmRise – YouTube.

5. Internet Archive [Video]

If you like classic, license-free films, this addon is for you. It consists of a massive online database brimming with all kinds of content, from music to software. It also has a vast number of videos that you can access through Kodi. With no subscription fees, you can easily to watch classics such as As You Like It and His Girl Friday for free.

Although this Kodi addon is entirely legal, it is not available in the official Kodi Repository, but you can find it in the SuperRepo addon repository. If you do decide to use SuperRepo, be careful as it has both unofficial and official add-ons.

Conclusion

Using the best streaming movie add-ons for Kodi can open a whole new world of entertainment that you can enjoy anywhere, anytime. The best part is that it’s free, or in some cases, at a very reasonable low cost.

Take care though and make sure that you only use legal add-ons. Other articles on the internet will contain lists of the best Kodi streaming add-ons that are not legal or could contain malware. For your safety, always use a Kodi VPN and make sure your anti-virus is up to date.

If you’re still wondering why it’s a bad idea, this means that either you have nothing sensitive stored on your computer (can it be?), or you are not conscious about the “danger” hanging around. And, gosh, locking your screen will do no harm: depending on your operating system, it’s just a matter of simple combinations of the key pressed and then you can go away with peace in mind- so why don’t you do that?

Things you are leaving behind

Now, let’s consider that you think you have nothing sensitive on your computer and see what another user can see if he take the time to seat in front of your computer and “play” with it. Let’s see the usual things you’re leaving behind when letting access to your computer:

• the open documents: this is the most obvious one. You’ve left some documents open, it’s easy to have a look at them. But even if they aren’t open, you know that most software now comes with the “recently opened document”. So now, you know that you’re leaving some traces behind. Let’s just hope you didn’t watch some “forbidden” movies at work and that your media player “remembers” it, nor have you read some confidential documents,
• the files stored on your hard drive: you surely have photos, music or videos laying around that can be “interesting”.Do you know that some of the guys who repair your computer check for those “hidden treasures” while trying to remove that virus from your computer whenever you ask for their help? Have you ever been suggested something like “we need to bring your computer to our lab for repairing?”.Just think about it: how badly do you want some of the files you keep on your computer unfound? We all have something stored on our computer that we don’t want other to know: either it is the usual ones (adult photos and movies usually), or that photo of you drunk and trying to climb the police’s fences while you’re almost naked on a TGIF night that your best friend sent you (ok, this probably didn’t happen, but you get the idea),
• your browser’s hidden treasure: unless you’re following some of the tips I left for browsing incognito, your browser reveals a lot about your online history. Whether your browser keeps some credentials for accessing some online sites (have you noticed those “remember me” features on most websites?), or your browsing history (oops, you’ve been surfing on some “people news” website while your boss was expecting that important report for … yesterday?).In fact, if it’s only for checking what you did, you can still find a way to “minimize” it. But let’s say that your browser automatically connects you to Facebook (or whatever website), if someone really wants to harm you, it’s very simple to post something on your behalf while you are away. And remember, anything posted online is hard to remove.

Is anyone having access to your computer? Are you comfortable to let someone browsing your private data? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Subscriptions are everywhere nowadays whenever you go to some random internet sites: whether it is for subscribing to newsletters and offer, opening an account on any websites and community sites. Learn about disposable e-mail.

As if it weren’t enough, they even politely invite you to “find your friends” by asking to access your address book so that they check if some of your friends are already using that same network.

Most of the time, the lambda user doesn’t even think about it and, without even considering the consequences of his act, he innocently gives away his e-mail address so as to be able to subscribe to one online service, then …. then he ends up receiving a lot of e-mails that don’t necessarily pertain to his interest. So he ends up deleting (or ignoring) more emails than he reads in one day.

Use a dummy email address for subscriptions

Some more clever user has just created some free internet-based e-mails (from Yahoo, Gmail, …) for all those subscriptions. I, for example, have one e-mail address that is solely used for subscription purposes: whenever I want to create an account on one online service (or I want to get a sneak preview that needs some subscription), I use that e-mail account. In fact, the scenario is almost always the same:

• the online site asks you to fill some information about you (at least an e-mail address and a password),
• then it sends you an e-mail with a link to click on it so as to confirm that it actually is a working e-mail address
• once you activated your account by clicking the activation link, there usually is no critical need to check that e-mail address anymore since you would be able to do everything from inside the online site

So, my dummy address is only used for activation purposes. I recently checked that e-mail address, and I found out that sites I subscribed for keeps on sending me multiple e-mails even though I didn’t check it for a long time.

Better: disposable e-mails

But then I stumbled upon some new services that even get things easier: disposable e-mails. Well, I don’t know what’s the business model for those kind of services, but they are great for testing out those sites: in case you really want to stick with one online site, I guess you can always change the official e-mail address associated with it so that you get the notifications and any other communications.

Disposable e-mail services

If you google for “disposable e-mails” you’ll find plenty of solutions that go from “10-minute mail” (that is actually only available for 10 minutes, which is plenty of times to receive the activation link), to “My trash mail” that is only available for three days.

If we take the SpamGourmet example, it’s quite interesting since you can create temporary and automatically checked for spam e-mail addresses similar to “someonlinesite.3.myaccount@spamgourmet.com” that you can “give” to the site “someonlinesite.com”. It will only handle 3 e-mails from that site (and eventually forward it to your actual address depending on how you configured it)

Frankly, this can be useful, especially for bargain hunters that give away their e-mail address to every site that give them some discount in exchange for some personal information.

What do you think about those solutions?

Do you think they are worth using? or do you think your native anti-spam solution that comes with your current e-mail system is doing fine?

Are the files available for real?

I would say those are genuine files (if it weren’t then you know how to scour the internet looking for feedback from people who actually downloaded them). From the time of writing this article, the torrent files were still alive. And due to the conception of torrents, I would expect that this breach has already given the opportunity to hackers and pirates to download whatever they could then share it to the whole internet in a distributed peer-to-peer manner. Which means that even if Sony can technically recover the security breach and close its catalog (or at least bring it back to the normal situation where people would have to buy first before being able to download legal files).

I know you are expecting me to share with you the links for doing so: to be frank with you, I won’t do that. But since it’s very easy to find this out via some search on the internet, I guess you can do it by yourself. For the purpose of writing this article, I just took a sneak peak on what was made available on one of the torrent files so that I can give a more fact-checked information to how-to-hide-ip readers.

Would you download Sony Music for free?

But back to the question I raised as the title of this article which is “Would you download Sony Music for Free?” – my answer is straight simple: I won’t, and I didn’t in fact. Now you may be curious why I won’t?

Well, let’s take a step back first.

As of today, I’m taking for granted that there’s a high number of servers that have been hacked. And if we consider that there’s also a lot of computers from the internet that has been infected so as to contribute to making those attack a “success”, then there’s a high risk that this issue is going to get worse for the next days. This will also mean that hundreds of millions of dollars (if not billions) would account for lost sales from big companies and they would want to recover it in one way or another.

Can you evaluate how much is the Sony’s music catalog worth?

Since the nature of the distribution of the hacked music catalog relies on peer-to-peer (torrent) system, then I can see the legal unit of Sony trying to sue every internet user who would have downloaded those files. Remember, whatever you do on the internet can be tracked in one way or another (especially if you are not as good as the hackers who can create a lot of “untraceable” links from where they can harm whatever system they want).

I can imagine guys from iTunes and AmazonMP3 (as well as other online platforms that allow legal download of music) that can’t sleep anymore since this Sony “open” catalog issue has its way to making part of history, they would think that they can be the next target. On the other hand, I can also imagine a lot of internet users and pirates who are always following the #OpMegaupload hashtag waiting for the next attack where they could profit from it.

Now you know my stand: I truly am amazed how good Anonymous guys can be. They have shown o the world how fragile internet systems can be. And so as to ironically demonstrate it: they have put online for free download Sony’s artistic creations. They’ve made a point.

Would you do it?

But now, for us internet users, it’s another question to ask if we want to download those files. I’ve made my choice, what’s yours? Would you download Sony Music for free?

The latest update of the China Firewall blocked many sites that were accessible before, including VPN services, free email services like Gmail, and social networking sites like Twitter. The fight between the Chinese Government and those seeking Internet freedom has not come to an end and it seems the GFC will be alive for many years to come. Learn how to check website accessibility in China.

Are you the owner of a site that provides services for Chinese internet users?

Are you in China and you want to access certain sites? Here is a tool that helps you find out whether a site is blocked by the Chinese Firewall or not. ViewDns.Info checks both the availability and accessibility of a specific website from different locations:

• Inner Mongolia
• Shenzhen
• Beijing
• Yunani province
• And Heilongjiang province

This tool is also highly functional as it provides people the ability to plan their trip to China and check if their favorite websites are accessible there or not. If they find inaccessibility of websites in there, they can then get the accessibility with the help of a VPN service or a proxy tool.

As part of my ongoing mission on China and her Internet, I tried to dig out few methods that can help you track if your website is blocked in China. Let’s see if this works or not. All you got to do is enter your URL and let the online tools do their job.

Just Ping – Check Site China

They have their servers located in China and they are pretty smooth at testing if your website is blocked in China or not. Our How-To Hide IP isn’t!

Watch Mouse

Watch Mouse also has it monitors within China so they can come on handy too when you are trying to track your website from within China.

View DNS

View DNS uses DNS poisoning to track if your website is blocked in China or not. DNS poisoning is one of the common methods used by the Chinese government to block access to different websites. See results for How To Hide IP below:

Website Pulse

When compared to the ones above, website pulse has servers in more cities within China so they can be given an upper hand. They check your website from Beijing directly!

Great Firewall of China

I love this domain and I wish I had registered this! I could only write a post on Great Firewall of China and this guy created a complete website on it. And, it works!

Check website accessibility in China for How-to-hide-ip

I have just made the check for How-to-hide-ip and … good news: the blog is accessible in China and it can be used to find info on the different ways to bypass the Chinese Firewall.

Enjoy!

Is your site blocked in China? Let us know your thoughts about the check site China.

In the case of IPMASQ, a gateway machine acts as the mediator between the machines on your network and the Internet. Connection Tracking (contract) feature of Linux is used to keep track of connections and their source. This helps in rerouting the packets accordingly. Henceforth, packets leaving the private network are masqueraded as if they originated from the mediator machine. Microsoft calls this feature as Internet Connection Sharing.

How can IP masquerading be achieved?

IPMASQ can be achieved with the help of a single command:

sudo iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -s 192.168.0.0/16 -o ppp0 -j MASQUERADE

This command works when your private IP address range is 192.168.0.0/16, and the Internet-facing machine is ppp0. Below we break the syntax to clear all attributes:

• -t nat – this helps you enter the nat table.
• -A POSTROUTING – this will append ‘–A’ to POSTROUTING chain.
• -s 192.168.0.0/16 – this specifies the address space being used within the network.
• -o ppp0 – this applies to traffic that is being routed via a specific device in the network.
• -j MASQUERADE – this masquerades the traffic via the gateway described above.

NOTE: If your network has a firewall in front of your gateway machine then you will have to FORWARD your traffic to complete the network connection.

sudo iptables -A FORWARD -s 192.168.0.0/16 -o ppp0 -j ACCEPT

sudo iptables -A FORWARD -d 192.168.0.0/16 -m state --state ESTABLISHED,RELATED -i ppp0 -j ACCEPT

In the above case, the connection is ESTABLISHED even if your firewall policies are set to REJECT or DROP.

Comparing IP Masquerading with Proxy and NAT

NAT (Network Address Translation) is a collection of public IP addresses. Whenever a machine in a network wants to connect to the external network, then it would use one public IP address from the pool available in the NAT box. Moving forward, all the traffic will seem to originate from the respective public IP address thus masking the originating machine. The public IP address will be returned to a free pool of NAT whenever the source machine is idle.

NAT services are compatible with Solaris, Linux, Windows 95, NT, etc.

Advantages:

• Multiple configuration options.
• Requires no application software.

Disadvantages:

• Requires a subnet mask from the ISP end which could be costly.
• Once the free public IP address pool dries up, then a new machine won’t be able to access external network unless a public IP is available again.

IPMASQ can be tagged as 1:Many form of NAT. IPMASQ acts as the originating machine for requests thus masking the source from the external public network.

Image Credits

IPMASQ is compatible with Linux and a couple of ISDN routers.

Advantages:

• Requires only one IP address henceforth it is cheap.
• Does not require special configuration at application level thus reducing configuration maintenance load.
• Uses a firewall to provide an extra level of security.

Disadvantages:

• Cannot work without a Linux machine. In case Linux machine is not available then IPMASQ compatible router must be available.
• Firewall might at times create problems for specific protocols. In such cases, an extra functionality namely “firewall redirectors” is used.

Proxy is based on single IP address functionality just like IP MASQ. The proxy acts as a translator in a local area network. A proxy server is designed to receive requests from various peers within a network and to push the request to the destination location. During this process, the proxy server acts as a source while sending the request to the destination location thus masking the source. Lastly, the proxy server routes the received reply back to the originating machine without revealing the originating machine to the public network.

Image Credits

Proxy services are compatible with Solaris, Linux, Windows 95, NT, etc.

Advantages:

• Uses just one IP address henceforth it is cheap.
• Gives the option of caching for enhanced performance in a network.

Disadvantages:

• Could end up mixing packets thus generating confusing statistics at the network level.
• All applications within the network must be configured to use proxy servers to access external network via the proxy server. Slight miss in configuration will break the link between the application and proxy server. This is where IPMASQ takes the lead over Proxy as in case of IPMASQ no configuration settings are required at the peer level.

Who requires IP masquerading and who must ignore it?

After our discussion on IPMASQ, we moved on to gauge the differences between IPMASQ, Proxy, and NAT. If you haven’t been through those articles, then I will suggest you do so otherwise the below text will be useless for you.

Though IPMASQ and proxy are almost similar technologies yet there will be times where IPMASQ takes control over proxy servers. For a network administrator to use all the features of IP MASQ he/she must satisfy the below conditions:

• For starters, the network administrator must have Linux boxes within the network which will use IPMASQ.
• To expand the above point, all the Linux boxes within the network must themselves connect to a central Linux box which acts as a mediator between the Internet and the local area network.
• Linux machine must have more than one modem. This machine will act as a SLIP or PPP server that is connected to the rest of the boxes. Remember that all such boxes within the local area network will have a private IP.
• There will be a case where the network administrator would want other servers to try and connect to the Internet. Either an external router will be required for such a setup or otherwise, Linux will have to be used as the router.

Who should stay away from IPMASQ?

• Machines that directly connects to the Internet. The concept of a mediator will have no meaning in such a small network.
• If other machines already have an assigned public IP address. IPMASQ is old technology but, it has recently gained considerable recognition due to its usage.

Hiding local IP Addresses

Can private local area network addresses be hidden and allow employees to access the Internet anonymously? This is especially important if you want to avoid external users from initiating conversation with employees or users located on the internal network while still allowing Internet access. This is where masquerade NAT comes to the rescue. Masquerade NAT enables multiple IP addresses to be identified as a single IP address on an internal network.

How to masquerade NAT?

To use masquerade NAT, you need to specify the range of addresses that need to be translated by NAT. The translated IP addresses replace the source IP addresses on the IP header on all IP packets. A temporary port number replaces the IP source port number if it is available.

Set the MAXCON high enough to accommodate multiple conversations for each PC. The default is usually 128, but it can be set to any preferred value.

Set a HIDE rule statement by specifying the TIMEOUT which determines the time for conversations between the server and the personal computer located on the network. This value determines the waiting period before a response is received and is set to the default value of 16.

Enable IP forwarding

Always enable IP forwarding when using NAT by setting the IP datagram verification to YES under the TCP/IP attributes.

In masqueraded networks, only the PCs located inside the network can initiate a conversation or request. For example, a web browser on a PC can access a website while a web browser outside the masqueraded network cannot access a resource located inside the network. To enable 2-way communication, a feature called port forwarding or static NAT is used where administrators configure the translation tables to allow permanent access to resources located inside the masqueraded network.

Give careful attention to the details when implementing a network address translation (NAT) since it can have serious drawbacks on the quality of an Internet connection.

In the last days, the Internet was invaded by news/tutorials/howtos on the Google Phone (aka Nexus One). It looks like Nexusmania is on its way. Now, if you want to have such a phone and you are leaving outside US, UK, Hong Kong or Singapore you’ll found out that “Nexus One phone is not available in your country“. The good news is that there is still hope to get your Nexus One, thanks to Gamaze. However, you have to pay the additional shipping cost for that. Learn how to get Nexus One outside US or UK.

Here is what you have to do:

1. 1. Get access to the ordering process by downloading and installing the free Hotspot Shield, in order to protect your location and IP address so that Google’s web store won’t block you out from the ordering process. You may do this by using any other VPN service that provides access to US servers.

1. Sign up for a US-based shipping address at MyUSABox.com. This is free but they charge amount of US $5 for registering and will be credited to you when you use the service for the first time.
2. Sign up for a Google Checkout account. If you already have a Google / Gmail account, you can add that easily through your Google account settings. Note that you can use any international shipping address and credit card for this purpose, it does not have to be the MyUSABox address you just signed up for.
3. Order your personal Nexus One phone by pointing your browser to http://www.google.com/phone. Please make sure you opt for the SIM-free phone at $529 + sales tax. Also, make sure you enter the MyUSAbox shipping address and Google Account billing address to the order.
4. Wait for your Nexus One phone to arrive at MyUSABox. You should get notified by email as soon as it arrives unless your e-mail spam filters are too tight.
5. Log in to MyUSABox and forward your box to your home address, it should arrive within a few days.

Unfortunately, you have to pay the additional shipping cost but it should be reasonable if you really want to try out the new phone from HTC and Google. For Gamaze guy that wrote this tutorial, shipping was $49 to EU (including re-packaging), giving a total price of $625 (~€435) for the whole adventure.

What do you think about the phone? Were you able to get Nexus One outside US or UK?

If you don’t know what a Media Access Control (MAC) address is considered reading this Wikipedia article.

Determining IP Address from MAC Address

Computers can determine the IP address from MAC address using DHCP and other protocols like Address Resolution Protocol. DHCP  Manages network configuration by registering and updating IP addresses and DNS names. Learn how you can do the same thing.

No universal tool to get the IP address from MAC

An end user can not easily determine an IP address given a known MAC address. It can be done in certain specific situations, but there is no such universal tool to get the IP from the MAC address.

The Address Resolution Protocol (Formerly known as ARP) allows a host to find the MAC address of a node with an IP address on the same physical network when given the node’s IP address. To make ARP efficient, each computer caches IP-to-MAC address mappings to eliminate repetitive ARP broadcast requests.

The ARP tool allows a user to view and modify Address Resolution Protocol table entries on the local computer. The command is useful for viewing the Address Resolution Protocol cache and resolving address resolution problems.

In order to use ARP tool open the Command Prompt and type

arp -a

and you will get a list of all the connected devices on your network along with their physical addresses!

MAC-to-IP mapping systems

Some large networks managed globally to solve the problem of mapping MAC-to-IP address by installing special management software agents on all computers. These software systems are based on Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and include the capability called network discovery.

These systems forward messages out to the agent on every network device a request for both the IP and MAC addresses of that device. The system receives then stores the results in a master table separate from any individual ARP cache.

Network discovery can also be implemented (with Internet Protocol) using ping commands and ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol) messages. When pinging a remote device from any client an ARP cache update is triggered. This update occurs only in the Address Resolution Protocol cache of the LAN routers and not on the originating client, however.

Other useful tools to get the IP address from MAC

Finally, you can use a free program to get an IP address from a MAC address. It’s called CC Get MAC Address and it can be downloaded here.

Another free program is the one called Advanced IP Scanner. It is a program totally dedicated to scanning IP addresses and will do the same thing as CC Get MAC Address.

After running IP Scanner and simply run the arp –a command to get a list of IP/MAC Addresses.

How to change MAC address

Now, let’s see how you can change it. The solution is simple as it can be done using the free application Technitium MAC Address Changer. It allows you to change Media Access Control (MAC) Address of your Network Interface Card (NIC) or Wireless Network Card (WiFi), irrespective of the NIC’s drivers or its manufacturer.

Every NIC has a MAC address hard coded in its circuit by the manufacturer. This hard coded MAC address is used by windows drivers to access Ethernet Network (LAN). This tool can set a new MAC address to your NIC, bypassing the original hard coded MAC address.

How to change MAC Address with Technitium MAC Address Changer

1. Download Technitium MAC Address Changer
2. Start MAC Address Changer. You will see all available network adapters (the top list).
3. Select the adapter you want to change the MAC address. You will get the details of your selection below.
4. Click Change MAC button, enter new MAC address and click Change Now button and confirm changes.
5. To restore the original MAC address of the network adapter, select the adapter, click Change MAC button and then click Original MAC button and confirm changes you made when prompted.

How Does It Work?

This tool does not modify the MAC address from your NIC card, it just writes a value into the Windows registry.

When the Network Adapter Device is enabled, Windows searches for the registry value ‘NetworkAddress‘ in the key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1- 08002bE10318}\[ID of NIC e.g. 0001].

If a value is present, Windows will use it as MAC address, if not, Windows will use the hard coded manufacturer provided MAC address.

Technitium MAC Address Changer works with all Windows versions including Vista and Windows 7.

>> Technitium MAC Address Changer

When I decided to write this article, I couldn’t help but wonder if an acronym such as DD-WRT would even trigger some interest in our blog readers. After all, there’s already a ton of abbreviations hanging on this blog, so there’s a high risk of “selective processing” from readers that would push them to ignore this article. So, first of all, congratulations. Congratulations if you’ve read this far in this article. I promise this is going to be an eye-opening reading since it may give a new life to your router. So hang on.

But first of all, what is a DD-WRT?

DD-WRT is kind of “universal” Linux-based firmware that can be used as a replacement to your current router’s “operating system.” Best of all, it can be downloaded for free from the internet – and don’t get me wrong, free doesn’t mean “low-grade” system. Indeed, most of the routers that are shipped nowadays are only limited to a certain set of features- then some great marketing guys would categorize them to segments like “entry,” “for home office,” “professional” use.  So, with DD-WRT, that same hardware that came with your router can be added a lot of new features. Indeed, if you decide to replace your router’s firmware with a DD-WRT version, you’ll be able to:

• transform that old-router into a Wi-Fi hotspot (even though your genuine router’s firmware wouldn’t allow that);
• add finer control over QoS options. For those who are wondering what QoS is, it stands for “Quality of Service.” IT’s a generic term for every finer control that can be applied at the router’s level for managing bandwidth and access. For example, one router administrator can define at the router level that machine A would be limited to a 100Kb download speed while his computer wouldn’t be limited at all. Almost every network manager out there are using some QoS at the router level to manage that small bandwidth to multiple users;
• accept IPv6 protocol even though your router only came shipped with IPv4 support.

Is DD-WRT only for popular routers? Should I then replace my router’s firmware?

Well, as with most popular software, there is a database of routers that support the DD-WRT on the official website. Now, back to the second question: it’s not mandatory that you replace your router’s firmware with DD-WRT – after all, you’ve been working with it for a specified period now without any problems. But if you are considering adding new features, or if you have decided to give a new life to an old router, then you probably need to consider installing DD-WRT software features.

So why consider opting for a DD-WRT firmware replacement?

Heck, that’s a good question. But don’t worry, we’ll bring some answers to this:

• a lot of VPN solution provider support it. You may have seen it popping up all the time whenever you are considering buying a VPN solution (BTW, the following are great options for VPN – Virtual Private Networks: HideMyAss, ibVPN, PureVPN, Private Internet Access, or NordVPN). Indeed, most serious VPN providers come with support for DD-WRT- some even have quite detailed installation process. Thus, you will be able to hide your public IP address, browse the Internet safely, unblock restricted websites (BBC iPlayer, Netflix).
• it adds more features to your current router: as I said earlier, with DD-WRT, you can turn your router into an excellent Wi-Fi hotspot.

Bonus 1: How to setup ibVPN on DD-WRT router

ibVPN provides a pretty clear tutorial for this installation: DD-WRT routers OpenVPN setup, except for a couple of tips that are useful for the not-tech users.

Installing ibVPN on a router

Step 1: Download the file ibVPN DD-WRT ovpn (OpenVPN configuration files) from the site.  Copy the entire file into your Command Shell (Administration => Commands) and replace “your@email.address VPNpassword” with the login info you received from ibVPN.

Next, click Save Startup.

Step 2. Change DNS settings. ibVPN recommends the Google DNS servers:

google-public-dns-a.google.com 8.8.8.8
google-public-dns-b.google.com 8.8.4.4

Go to Tab Setup => Basic Setup  and make the following changes:

Then click Save.  It only remains for you only to reboot your router.

Step 3: Configuring IPs. Each package has its own IP addresses.  For the package TorrentVPN here they are:

NL: 62.212.72.172 (Amsterdam2)
TO: 46.165.196.25 (Frankfurt2)
LU: 212.117.165.18 (Luxemburg)

Simply put this script in your Command Shell: /tmp/ibvpn/vpn start + IP resulting /tmp/ibvpn/vpn start 62.212.72.172 for NL address .  Click Run Commands.

The message launching OpenVPN process appears.  Wait a few minutes and the process is completed.  Use the following script to stop the IP VPN: /tmp/ibvpn/vpn stop.

Troubleshooting

In case of VPN connection problems:

• First: Remove “explicit-exit-notify 3″ of the startup script. Reboot and set the desired IP.
• Contact support.  To facilitate the help you can give the logs.  Just do three very easy command line (Make Run Commands between each line):
  * ps
  * ip ro l
  * cat / tmp / ibvpn / vpn.log

What gives with this command line: ps – Click on Run Commands to bring up the Log.  Repeat the operation for each line.

You have now finished the VPN setup on your DD-WRT router. ibVPN is a premium VPN service that provides access to servers from over 100 locations. It is well-known for the quality of the support and the flexibility of their packages.

Bonus 2: How to setup VpnTunnel with OpenVPN on DD-WRT

You may follow the next steps in order to setup VPNTunnel DD-WRT. From your 192.168.1.1 interface, you access your router and its configuration.

1 – In the Services tab => VPN

You enable OpenVPN Daemon and check Start OpenVPN Daemon and WAN Up.

In the case that you have CA Cert in the box, you copy your file ca.cert witch you will find in the VpnTunnel.Se user account.

Next, in the Private Client Key box, you put on two lines your Username and your Password.

In the box OpenVPN config file you copy your OpenVPN configuration.

This file OpenVPN gives this script:

float
client
dev tap
proto udp
nobind
; Cert
ca / etc / openvpn / keys / ca.crt
ns-cert-type server
cipher BF-CBC # Blowfish
; VPN Server
remote-random
remote melissa.vpntunnel.se 1194
remote melissa.vpntunnel.se 10010
remote melissa.vpntunnel.se 10020
; Auth
auth-user-pass # passwd
persist-key
persist-tun
; Logging
comp-lzo
verb 1

Two lines must change:
ca / etc / openvpn / keys / ca.crt by AC / tmp / openvpn / ca.crt

auth-user-pass # passwd auth-user-pass / tmp / openvpn / key.pem

Then click on Save settings and Apply.

2 – In the Administration tab => commands

Copy this script and confirm with Save Firewall

iptables-I FORWARD-i br0-o tap0-j ACCEPT
iptables-I FORWARD-i tap0-o br0-j ACCEPT
iptables-I INPUT-i tap0-j REJECT
iptables-t nat-A POSTROUTING-o tap0-j MASQUERADE

3 – Reboot the router

Administration tab => Management and Reboot button to validate this router config.

To check your new IP: xmyip.com.

Changing DNS

In case of connection problems: untimely cuts / slow speed/ no change of IP, the DNS change to stabilize your computer and solve these problems.

1 – In XP – Vista

Open the Windows Control Panel => Open “Local Area Connection” => Right-click on the icon of your network connection => select “Properties” => Select “Internet Protocol (TCP / IP)” => Click Properties => Check “Use the following DNS server addresses” and then in the Preferred DNS server and Alternate DNS server, type addresses 80.67.0.2 and 91.213.246.2

Click OK and restart your computer.

2 – In Windows 7

Windows Control Panel => “Network and Internet” => “Network and Sharing Center” => “Change adapter settings” => Right-click on “Local Area Connection” => Click Properties.  => “Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP/IPv4)” => “Properties” => First click on the button “Use the following DNS server addresses” and enter your preferred DNS server and auxiliary.  Type the address 80.67.0.2 and 91.213.246.2

Click OK and restart your computer.

To sum up, VpnTunnel.Se works excellent on DD-WRT, and it’s an excellent choice if you want to install in on your router.

Now, your turn – have you switched to using a DD-WRT router? What do you think of the DD-WRT software features? What’s your personal experience? Feel free to share in the comment section.

One thing’s for sure, we, as readers of How-To-Hide-Ip blog, are among the Internet users who are trying hard not to be “censored” on the Internet. This blog is all about the “online anonymity guide,” but it also is full of articles on how to unblock various online resources. Especially from countries that are under some censorship. Learn how to give a hand to the global translation of the Declaration of Internet Freedom.

Internet Freedom – Tech solutions

Indeed, we’ve come up with technical solutions that either rely on proxies or VPN solutions. I guess most of our readers know, by now, my favorite VPN solution providers who are ibVPN (read our complete ibVPN review), PureVPN, Private Internet Access, HideMyAss, NordVPN or IPVanish. But the Internet has grown so vast; it has proven to be a media that can drastically make a change. We all know how the Arab spring sparkled from the Internet, but if we dig further, there’s a lot of stories to be told concerning how the internet has changed this world.

But at some point of time, solutions can’t be technical anymore – and with the pressure of different lobbying, we all know that there’s a fear of the internet becoming a closed wall. By “controlling” the flow of information on the Internet, big companies, as well as governments, are given the power to censor it, or actively push forward the dissemination of “their point of view.”

Declaration of Internet Freedom

It is where the “Declaration of Internet Freedom” comes in. I like the way it is put forward since it reminds us of the “declaration of freedom” or some of those “human rights” declarations that a lot of people swear with. Truth to be told, this declaration has to be known and applied by the highest number of people. And, for that to happen, it has to be translated into the highest number of languages available. It is the time where we praise the efforts made by GlobalVoices Lingua project (and its translators) since they have launched a worldwide effort to translate this “declaration of Internet Freedom.”

Quoting some figures of a GlobalVoices article, there are 6 909 living languages used on this planet. Holy cow, that’s a considerable number. While it’s clear that on the internet, only a few of those languages hold for 90% of the content published, this doesn’t mean that this “Declaration of Internet Freedom” shouldn’t be translated into other languages.

So here’s the deal: we know that our readers are coming from different parts of the World, and we bet you are all familiar with some “non-popular internet language.” So why don’t we give a hand to this global translation effort and make this declaration one of the most popular crowd-translated documents?

Translation day

Wait, wait, wait. I know that the official “translation day” already happened on August 3rd (according to ), but I’m sure no one will say no if some volunteers still want to join in and help with translating for languages that haven’t found any translators yet.

So it’s not like we’re late on this, but we want to share the info and mobilize our readers to contribute to this worth-mentioning and undoubtedly important project that is in line with what we are trying to achieve here on How-to-hide-ip.

So anyone feeling motivated enough for translating?