What IS an IP address & 'cookies'

[U2gypsy]

My boyfriend and I have been trying to understand exactly what an IP address is? Is that a number that is assigned to your computer when you purchase it? Or a number given by your internet service provider? Also, what exactly are COOKIES?

Are IP addresses and cookies something that someone or perhaps a website could use to steal your identity?

Would appreciate some info on this. My boyfriend and I are two major computer dummies.

Thanks

 

[Bonochick]

http://www.whatis.com is a great web site. You can do searches of technical terms and find their definitions.

 

[U2gypsy]

Thank you Bonochick! I thought perhaps I should post this topic in the It's Official (off topic) category and not in this area.

Very sorry I posted it twice!!!!!



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p.s. Bonochick ~ Just checked out the above link -- looks very informative! Thank you very VERY much!

 

[Liesje]

Are IP addresses and cookies something that someone or perhaps a website could use to steal your identity?

IP addresses? No. Many people have dynamic (changing) IPs anyway. For example, at home I'm behind a router that passes out IP addresses to everyone on it and since I don't really care, I have it set to dynamic (some people need a static IP address). At work, I'm behind a DHCP server which also passes out dynamic IP addresses to everyone on the network. If I'm at work, or anywhere on campus, and go to one of those "what is my IP?" sites, it doesn't even show the right IP address, just the address of the DHCP server (same for Interference bans).

Cookies have much more potential to be damaging, but unless you're visiting shady sites, or sites loaded w/ spyware, they're more good than bad b/c they'll help pages load faster or remember usernames/passwords so you don't have to type them in every time.

The MAC address/physical address is the actual number assigned to your computer's hardware when you purchase it. A MAC address doesn't change. If you want/need to know your MAC address for any reason, go to Start > Run > type cmd and hit OK and then type ipconfig /all and hit enter and you'll see the physical address listed.