Question about IP address?

Question

I was wondering if your IP address changed at all, or if it stays the same for as long as you have your computer? For instance, I've had my computer for two years now..would my IP be the same as it was when I first got my computer? How often do they change if they change at all?

I have DSL, and sometimes when I reset my connection, it tells me that my IP has been renewed, does that mean that my IP has changed? Sorry if these questions are dumb, but I've searched and can't quite seem to find the answers..

and also, what kind of information exactly can a person find out about you if they have your IP address? Could they find out where you live/your name/email? Any personal stuff? Or could they just send virus's and what-not to your IP to mess up your computer?

Thanks for taking the time to read all of this, I appreciate your help! :)

Answer 1

Normally your IP changes occasionally, whenever your modem is unplugged or disconnected for any length of time. It may be more frequent, depending on your ISP. If you have a router connected to your PC, then that is connected to your modem, you are seeing that IP address renewing most likely. The IP address can identify an ISP and a region of the world where it is located. A user on the internet cannot do much with it because your IP does change occasionally, but your ISP logs the account that gets each IP address in case the government wants to know who was using ip xx.xx.xx.xx at such and such a time. These are generalizations, each case is different but you should not have much to worry about. Always use a firewall and antivirus/antspyware and you will be OK.

Answer 2

Most consumer ISPs will provide dynamic IP addresses, that is, they change over time - especially with connection resets as you suggest.

This should not be an issue really for you unless you will want to access your computer remotely. Can I ask the reason for your question? Or is it just general interest?

It is possible to obtain your physical location by IP address, but I wouldn't be alarmed as it is limited to towns and cities, rather than individual addresses (and is more often than not inaccurate anyway!).

In terms of security, if someone does obtain your IP address, they may scan for open ports on your system which could feasibly be used as an entry point, however if you make good use of a firewall this should not be a problem.

Answer 3

For the most part, your IP address would stay the same unless your modem was powered off.

Most ISP's have a 24 hour lease on an IP address. IF you maintain your connecttion, that lease is renewed and you keep the address. If you reset your modem and your IP address was renewed, you most likely recieved the same IP address because the lease was not expired yet....If you powered off your modem for 24 hours AND the lease expires and the IP address is released back to the ip address pool to be assigned to others. When you bring your modem back online, the modem asks for an IP address and will get either the leased address or a new address.....depending on the status of the lease.

A person can find your approximate location using a geospacial IP address map. Such a map can be located here: http://www.seomoz.org/ip2loc

It it possible for a hacker to mess with your computer.......Without going into detail, this is why you need to keep up on security updates and maintain your firewall .

Answer 4

Your IP can and will probably change if you are getting that message. This is by design, very common and nothing to worry about.

Your IP address can be given to you in one of two ways. The first and most common is called DHCP which stands for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol. It assigns you an ip address by "leasing" it to you for a specific period of time. If your IP address gets "released", you still have that lease assigned to you for a short period of time. Once that time expires it goes back into a pool of IP addresses for anyone to have. You may or may not get the same address again. They don't change unless you release it for some reason.

The second way is you can hard code the address and have it permanently assigned to your computer. This is usually not a recommended way as it can run into duplicate IP addresses on the network.

As far as information, the ip addresses are usually not registered to you as a person but the company (Comcast, Netzero, etc). If you look up an address you will find information about the company that owns the addresses.

Answer 5

You need to contact your ISP to know what type of service you have.if you have a static ip service then your ip address is permanent but if you have a dynamic ip service then your ip address changes.

Answer 6

Bottom line: If you have internet service - DSL , Dial up--whatever and you don't have STATIC IP, then your IP address have changed during those last 2 years.