computer name.

Hey, im a newbie. go ahead, flame me. i have windows xp. I just downloaded smartwhois and i checked my own ip address. On the screen, it showed the name of my computer. i would like to know how the hell to stop my ip from showing this information. the idea of people knowing my computers name and other info makes me kind of mad. what can i do to stop it. also, it says that "host is reachable". i logged off, and tried it again, and then it said that the host WASNT reachable. any info will be appreciated.

Hi there,

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Unregistered [/i]
[B]Hey, im a newbie. go ahead, flame me. i have windows xp. I just downloaded smartwhois and i checked my own ip address. On the screen, it showed the name of my computer. i would like to know how the hell to stop my ip from showing this information. the idea of people knowing my computers name and other info makes me kind of mad. what can i do to stop it. also, it says that "host is reachable". i logged off, and tried it again, and then it said that the host WASNT reachable. any info will be appreciated. [/B][/QUOTE]

You see your computer name only because you check your *own* IP address from your *own* machine. When Windows is told to look up the hostname for the local (i.e. your own) IP address, it doesn't try to contact the DNS server. Rather, it gives your computer's name as the hostname for this IP address. This is deep inside the Windows architecture. Therefore, you shouldn't worry about that, because if someone else checks your IP address using SmartWhois, he (or should I say "he/she" to pretend to be politically correct ;-) won't get your computer name. He will only get the hostname assigned by your ISP (if it is assigned, some IP addresses don't have hostnames, which is okay). There might be other ways to get your computer name, e.g. a NetBIOS query, but that's a different issue. To prevent this from happening, use a firewall, for example the build-in XP firewall.

Now, about "host reachable/host unreachable". This indicates if your computer replies to so called "pings". Normally, if you ping yourself, the host should be reachable, and the reply time should be zero milliseconds. If someone else pings you, your PC may or may not reply to pings, depending on your firewall settings.

MrByte

you know what? id like to thank you MrByte. i thought that nobody would answer my question, afteral, it was a silly question.
I am going to itt tech in september, and i am going for the software & programing classes. not that it matters. anyway thanks for takin the time to answer my question. you, my friend, are a GOWAG. (Gentleman Of Wit And Grace.)

[QUOTE]
[B]you know what? id like to thank you MrByte. [/B][/QUOTE]

Any time:-)

MrByte