I looked at my H's temp internet files and found a recent IP address logged pointing to a .GIF file. Does anyone know how the actual IP address gets logged instead of the URL? Would it be if someone gave hime the actual IP in an email or is it simply internal mail? His OP is external to the workplace. Thanks for your help!

T:<P>The GIF could have been embedded in an HTML page with the "source" for it pointing to the IP address. Also, like you say, it could be that he linked directly via the IP number rather than a standard character-based URL. Or yes, it could be internal, on a network. If it's a low IP, like 10.40.xx.xx., that can be internal...<P>Hope this helps,<BR>zen

Hi Zen, Thanks for replying...so it doesn't sound as if I can confirm either way whether it was internal or external. It wasn't a heartwrenching gif...just a smile but still wondering why or how...questioning everything now which was never my style. Once again, thank-you.

Yeah, the whole questioning/suspicion thing is a real Pandora's Box... I used to be obsessed with my W's cell phone... But I've learned to let it go. Course it's easier (harder?) since I know she's seeing OM...<P>-zen

172.*<BR>192.*<BR>10.*<P>Are all private ip address ranges. <BR>Anything in the above ranges is either local lan, or private network addresses.<P>An IP address can be linked to a gif instead of a url if the owner of the ip address doesn't have a dns service. DNS service translates the <A HREF="http://www.whatever.com" TARGET=_blank>www.whatever.com</A> into a numerical ip address. However it's not necessary to have a domain name in order to be on the Internet.<P>So just use a reverse dns service like: <A HREF="http://remote.12dt.com/rns/" TARGET=_blank>http://remote.12dt.com/rns/</A> <P>Put the ip address in the box and it should point you to whom owns the address.<P>------------------<BR>Prayers, Hugs, and Strength from both of us. Things do and can get better. Keep hoping, learning, and growing. Take care of yourself.<P>[H] and Knewjie

Hi H & Knewje, Thanks so much, I did resolve it to this,<BR>gfx.law7.hotmail.com. Do you have any ideas as to what this tells me? My H's OP did away with her old email ID (I tried it and it bounced back) but the OP is overseas...?? <BR>

Well if that’s the address you got back, then the ip address you popped in belongs to none other then msn hotmail. The gif on that particular page must be stored on another machine, and it's just calling it from another machine to load it on that particular page.<P>Hotmail is owned by Microsoft AKA. MSN... It's a free email service.<P>What does this tell you? Well check the dates on that graphic / ip address correlated with it. Someone might have a recent email account at hotmail. Or it could be just an old account.<P>None the less, someone has/is visiting "Hotmail's" site for email.<P>------------------<BR>Prayers, Hugs, and Strength from both of us. Things do and can get better. Keep hoping, learning, and growing. Take care of yourself.<P>[H] and Knewjie

Hi H, One last question...is there any way to resolve the location of th DNS?

Sorry H, just one more thing, I'm not sure I completely understand. If the IP pointing to the GIF are in his temp filess, then does this mean he sent it or he received it from the hotmail account derived from the IP? I'm just a little confused as to how the IP gets logged in his temp directory. Thanks very much for your help.

The IP address you resolved belongs to MSN. So it means simply. Someone has been visiting Hotmail on that computer.<P>If an IP address was logged instead of a domain name. Like <A HREF="http://www.hotmail.com" TARGET=_blank>www.hotmail.com</A> it doesn't mean it’s a different server. It just means the graphics for hotmail.com are requested from a secondary server still owned by msn rather then the primary server that is <A HREF="http://www.hotmail.com." TARGET=_blank>www.hotmail.com.</A> <P>Many companies have multiple web servers that have different jobs. One might provide the graphics, another might provide video, and others still might provide different functions. So multiple machines function to serve as one integrated web page or service.<P>As for resolving the DNS.<P>I believe Microsoft / MSN / Hotmail provides their own DSN service. So it’s going to point to Microsoft no matter what.<P>In short: <BR>It's all hotmail.com... So you don't really need to pay attention to what the IP address means, rather look for when the graphic was downloaded, "As it gives you a time frame of the email accounts use", and you already know someone has an email account at hotmail.com. Or you wouldn’t have cached pages downloaded from hotmail.com sitting on your computer.<BR><P>------------------<BR>Prayers, Hugs, and Strength from both of us. Things do and can get better. Keep hoping, learning, and growing. Take care of yourself.<P>[H] and Knewjie