Forums General Discussion Can we changeor hide the host name??

Hello

I notice that the host name eg (abc@serverprovider.com.abc) is always displayed when we private chat with another person. At times I only see some will only show 123.123.123.123 on the chat window.

Can we opt which type of format to display the domain name? I'm really worry about the hacker attack.

Thanks



Regards

Whether its shown alpha or numerical depends on your provider and how they respond to the request. Some networks do have a mode which would disguise it, and some ppl use what are called bounces. Honestly tho, there are more important and useful things to do to protect yourself than worrying about what your mask shows.
-keep current with windows updates/patches
-keep current with updates on any apps you run
-run a firewall
-run 2 or 3 virus scanning apps on a regular basis
-dont type everything ppl tell you to
-use caution about clicking on urls, many are infected
-dont accept files or scripts from strangers

you can find some useful resources at http://zine.dal.net/previousissues/issue19/resources.php

If it's your real host, it makes no difference to a potential attacker whether it shows unresolved (IP number) or resolved (abc.com).

PM

good point PastMaster, i should have mentioned that.

bluewave: to understand, just type /dns the.numerical.here or /dns the.ip.number.here
/dns thenumerical will show you the alpha
/dns thealpha will show you the numerical

Simple solution - use networks that mask the IP/Hostname for you.

As an added note to what Watchdog said, the most notable networks which provide user hostmasking are Quakenet (irc.quaknet.org), Undernet (irc.undernet.org) and GameSurge (irc.gamesurge.net).

In most cases across IRC you will need to register some sort of username account or your actual nickname before you can make use of the hostmasking feature. A notable exception is WebChat (irc.webchat.org) which hostmasks it's users as they connect with random letters.

You can look for network's at http://irc.netsplit.de/networks and http://www.searchirc.com - Check out their website and you should find whether they suppport user hostmasking or not.

Have fun

Regards,

i disagree with you on the url's most i have click are safe. i have only found about 100 or so in the last 15 years that are bad.

only takes one.... unfortunately, most of the ones that are spammed on IRC arent safe. i dont encourage ppl to click on urls spammed to them.

I agree with Parabrat. There is no such thing as a safe URL unless it is confirmed as such before being used. Someone has to be first to visit a site but they are the ones that run the risk of being infected every time.

In addition to that you will not know that you were not infected unless your computer is equipped with anti-virus software complete with the latest signatures. An anti-spyware utility such as Ad Aware is also handy.

Being a channel op in a large help channel on a large network, I can assure you that well over half of the URL's that I see there are infected and/or dangerous.

PastMaster
IRCnet @#beginner, @#travelersinn