The one of the least common but certainly not least irritating events in a PC owners life will be an IP address conflict. The internet protocol gets confused somewhere between two computers. This happens for a long list of reasons but it can be easily fixed.
If you are one user on a much larger network than this can have different results than being one user on your private network. The easiest solution to this problem (besides restarting your computer) is simply getting a new IP address. We are going to go through the “Ipconfig/release” and “Ipconfig/renew” commands so we can change our IP address will relatively little fuss.
To change your IP address in Windows XP, first thing we have to do is go back to our desktop and click the “Start” button. Now type “cmd” in the “Open” field, then click “OK” so that we can open our command prompt. Now type “ipconfig/release” in the prompt and hit enter. The command displays the current IP. Now just type “ipconfig/renew” at the prompt and hit the enter key. Now we have a brand spanking new IP.
The only trouble here is that you will have another IP that is one of the same ones that is given by your network provider. If you are looking for an IP that isn’t blocked or is in some other way causing a conflict, then you might want to consider getting a completely different IP. If you are working on a larger network or “intranet” and you keep having these conflicts you might want to consider and internet proxy. A proxy provides a brand new IP. Proxy services offer an IP that is local to places all over the world. This might solve the problem and plenty of others that you haven’t considered.
The upscale version of this would be a virtual private network. A virtual private network or a VPN is a more secure and more elaborate way of using the internet without most of the limitations of a proxy. IP conflict with service providers that might be lackluster in the features they provide. The bigger question you have to ask yourself is how solved do you want this problem. If there are other types of IP conflict besides software than these services might be just what you are looking for.
A VPN is much like that intranet we mentioned earlier however this is an intranet of servers whose goal is keeping your online activities as quiet as possible. Absolute anonymity can be achieved on the larger internet.
You might find that bandwidth restrictions and things that are normally tied down to an IP are lifted when you use a VPN. Keep in mind that absolute privacy is hard and it’s really only a matter of how bad someone wants to find you. IP “conflict” of any type can be tricky.
Be smart and educate yourself to see what makes the most sense for every situation. Always make sure that you have the consent of anybody else using the network before you proceed.
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