Feb 2004

Solving Tech Problems
By Salman Siddiqui

Q. Is there any software available that can trace the telephone number behind a given IP address? Also can one trace from where an IP originates without contacting the ISP?
lovevinny@hotmail.com
Vikram Novlani.

A.
There isn’t any software available from where you can simply pop in the IP address and get the telephone number of the person who has been assigned that address. Things aren’t as simple as they look in the movies if that’s what you had in mind. To start with not all IP addresses trace back to individuals who logon using the telephone lines. One may use an ISDN connection or the cable network which do not use telephone lines. Also the IP may be assigned to other appliances besides the PC such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth enabled devices such as the toaster, refrigerator or the latest Gibson guitar which can plug directly onto the Internet. It is important to understand that anything that can be plugged onto the network can be assigned an IP address.
Now assuming that a given IP address trace backs to an individual’s telephone number, let’ see how we can discover that number. Each ISP has with it a pool of IP addresses from which it assigns a particular IP to its customers at a particular instant of time. In the case of dial-up connections every time one connects to the ISP, a new IP address is usually assigned. The ISPs, at least the established ones, maintain comprehensive log files about their customers containing information about the exact time an IP was assigned to that user.(For more information on the log files maintained by the ISPs in Pakistan, take a look at the November 2003 cover story of the SPIDER issue). Since these files are maintained only at the ISPs end, there’s no other way but to contact the ISP to know from where a particular IP originates. The question is how do we know which ISP to contact once we have a particular IP address? We can find out this by looking up the huge WHOIS databases maintained by APNIC etc. All these databases have a web interface where one can simply pop in the IP address and the information regarding the ISP that assigned that particular IP, it’s contact details, administrative owner details etc., is listed. However even if you find out the ISP from which a particular IP address originates, it is highly unlikely that the ISPs would be willing to talk about who exactly used that address. Unless of course if you have some high connections within that ISP.


Q. When we connect to the internet through a normal PTCL line, is it charged one telephone call or it's continueously charges calls as much time as I connected to the internet?
For Example: If I connected to the internet for 15 Minutes.... It will charge one phone call or 3 phone calls?
2) I am using Internet through CABLE and I want to connect 2 PCs on one Cable Connection, Is it possible? Would it be possible to connect them without my Cable-wala getting to know about it?
Shahid Vayani
msvayani@msn.com
If the number which you use to dial into an ISP is a UAN number, that is one starting with 131, then for the entire session you remain connected to the Internet only one phone call is charged to your phone bill. For all other numbers multi-metering takes place. However there is a technical possibility that even though you use a UAN number to log on multi-metering is being done by PTCL. In other words it is quite possible that two people X living in Gulshan and Y living in Clifton Karachi using the same ISP are being charged differently. This is because both individuals connect from different telephone exchanges and the fact that the configuration from multi-metering to uni-metering for these UAN numbers at the PTCL exchanges has been done manually. Thus it maybe possible that the telephone exchanges at you’re end has not yet been configured to uni-metering. Therefore after using the Internet if you feel that you’re phone bill is inflated even though you used a UAN to log on then you should check in with PTCL and submit an application requesting them to revise your phone bill. Also if you want to save your money then logon after 10:30, since the local calls are charged at half rates during that time.
Yes it is possible to share a single Internet connection such as the one you get from your cable network to one or more computers. Although there can be several ways of achieving this, I’ll only suggest a couple of methods. Connect the cable connection and all the other PCs in your house to a hub. Each PC should contain a LAN card. But if you do it this way then you’re cable wala can easily find out that you’re sharing the connection. To get around this, you can use two LAN cards instead of one in anyone of your systems. Connect the cable connection to one of these cards and use the other to connect to the other computer in your house. This method would of course require some routing but if both computers have Windows XP installed then this too can be a simple process. Just use the Internet Connection Sharing Wizard at both the computers and you’ll be on you’re way. In this method you’re cable wala might become suspicious of the amount of traffic at your end but he won’t be have any evidence to prove that you’re using two computers for the same connection.

Q. My Cousin died two months ago. Since he ran his deceased father's multinational business therefore he usually did most of his dealings on the Intenet. He had an ID on hotmail on which he took Tender notices and received all financial transactions. Only he knew the password of this account. Now a e-mail is stuck on this ID which is worth millions to his family. If they don't recover this e-mail then they will soon have to auction off all their property. How can they crack my deceased cousin's hotmail password? Please e-mail me the solution cause we are all worried for this. Please help.imfaizzi@hotmail.com

My hotmail account recently got hacked. Could you please suggest some guidelines so that this incident doesn’t happen again?
Ali
alithegreat_79@hotmail.com


Guidelines: The first thing that you should be watchful of is the hoax e-mails such as the one shown above. Nice try Faizzi, but I think you’ll have to write a more convincing story than that to get any sort of information from me. Perhaps if you had spent more time guessing the password instead of wasting time writing that story you could have saved those millions. ;-).

Make sure the passwords you keep are not easy for others to guess such as combinations of your initials and date of birth. Also make passwords from nonsense words, i.e., the words which do not exist in the dictionary such as asdfg123 etc. The reason is that there are web based programs available called bots that can use the dictionary as their database and try to guess your passwords. You should also be mindful of key loggers -programs that store everything you type from the keyboard secretively in a file – on your system. To check whether your activities and passwords are being monitored on a system, get an anti-key logger program installed. Also when using public computers such as cyber café’s or a friend’s computer make sure you don’t check the ‘save your password’ option when using MSN messenger.


Q. How can I write Urdu in MSN messenger 6.1? Also how can I install urdu fonts in Windows XP professional?
Syed Salman Ali
syedsalman4u@hotmail.com

To install Urdu fonts, or any type of fonts for that matter, in Windows XP choose Start > Settings> Control Panel. Then double-click the Fonts folder to display its contents. Now choose File> Install New Font and locate the fonts you want to install from the CD drive or wherever they are located. If the fonts are in a zip file then unzip them first. Click ok to install the fonts.
If you have the Windows XP CD with you then you can install the Urdu fonts for use in messenger or other applications as follows: choose Start > Settings> Control Panel.>double click the Regional and Language Options. Here choose the languages tab and check the box for the option ‘Install files for complex script and right-to-left languages.’ On clicking apply Windows XP will ask for the CD from which it was installed. Insert the CD and add the input language as Urdu option.

Q. I’m using a download accelerator program DAP in Windows XP. The problem is that when I try to download some files on the Internet by right clicking and selecting the 'Download with DAP' option, the DAP program doesn’t start. The same problem occurred when I used an earlier version of DAP.
Rak_yel@hotmail.com
Rakeel
If even after setting DAP as the default downloading program, it doesn’t start on right clicking the file then try this trick: right click the file you want to download and copy the link. Now in the DAP main window click the Add URL button or press the URL menu and choose Add Url. Paste the link of the file in The Add URL dialog that appears which should start the downloading process. However I’ll give you two words of advice: uninstall DAP. This free software is more than just a download accelerator, it is a spyware that sends information about your system and your surfing habits to its website. You can see this for yourself by using an anti-spyware program such as SpyBot which immediately spots DAP as a potential threat to your system security. Use the download accelerator from Fresh Devices called Fresh Download instead which is also free but not bundled with spyware.
Q. Can we have the folders in yahoo briefcase as our webfolder just like we have the web folder added by typing msnusers.com? Also can we change the destination of C:\Documents & Settings to any other e.g. D:\Documents & Settings?
MK
Mki97@yahoo.com

You’re first question isn’t clear enough so if you meant that can we create folders of our choice in yahoo briefcase like the way we can msn users then the answer is yes we can. If that’s not what you meant then e-mail us the question again. To change the destinations or replace the files used by windows requires modifying the registry values which can be risky. So unless it is absolutely necessary and not something which you want to do for the heck of it, visit the link titled ‘File and Folder Management in Windows XP’ at the end of the article to see how it is done.

Q. What are gateways? How they works?what is their purpose and how the gateways help me to improve my computer working?
mralitalha@hotmail.com
Ali Talha from Multan

You can find several definitions of a gateway on the Internet such as it is a device that allows data to flow between different networks. This device maybe a router used as a protocol converter connecting networks using different protocols. As an example consider a mail gateway which is a machine that connects two or more electronic mail systems (including dissimilar mail systems) and transfers messages between them. Gateways do not individually help a particular system such as yours in terms of downloading speed etc but it has a much broader role on the network. Check out the links give at the end of the article for more information.


Q. On my windows XP system when I download themes from the net the files appear not to be present in my system even though one can see them in the display settings. Also even though my system is a P-III 800 MHz it works pretty much like a P-I machine.
Kamran Ullah from Peshawar
kamran312@hotmail.com

It seems like you’re system is infested with all kinds of viruses, trojans, adware and spyware. Keep in mind that the themes, screen savers etc that are freely available on the net are mostly likely to contain viruses and other suspicious elements. Unless and until they aren’t from an authentic site such as the Microsoft website don’t download themes or other content. The themes which seem to disappear after you download them may well be viruses. This also explains the slow speed of your machine. To rectify the situation install an Anti-Virus software such as Norton or MacAfee, update the virus definitions and then complete a full system scan immediately. Also download the free anti-spyware program Spybot Search & Destroy and remove all spyware from your system. Hopefully when you’re done doing all this your PC’s health will recover.




Q. What does the sign ~ mean? Also when I open up hotmail messages in new windows I get a java script error.
On right clicking a hyperlink on a web page and then choosing the option Open in New Window one may receive either a scripting error message or the new window maybe blank or no new window opens at all. This can be caused by the incorrect registry values that were set due to some faulty installation of the Internet Explorer. Refer to the link given in the sites section for the solution to the problem.

sunnykhanz2001@hotmail.com


Q. Nowadays the new PC games require Direct X version 9. But on installing it I got the error message saying that the sound and video card drivers are not compatible with the version of the Direct X. My PC has Windows 98 installed with 192 ram, with 500 MHz processor speed.umair nasir rawalpindiumairnasir678@hotmail.com
The solution of your problem lies in your question itself. Simply update your voice and video card drivers before you install the latest version of Direct X. You can update them by going to the Device Manager (right click My Computer>select properties) and under the Sound, video and game controllers section right click any one the drivers listed and select properties again. Now under the driver tab press the update button which should download the latest version for your driver either from the hardware CD or the Internet. Repeat the updating process for all other drivers in the same way.