How To Change Your IP Address

 

Essentially, there are three ways to hide or change your IP address - but a number of variations on those ways.

1. Use a proxy or TOR
2. Use an Internet cafe or WiFi hotspot
3. Wardrive

You can use any combination of the above. There is no way to 'spoof' an IP address. Read more below to see how each of the above methods will work in detail.

Using a proxy to change your IP address

You can easily mask your IP address by simply using a web proxy. You can use http proxies that work via simple Internet pages or you can use a proxy plugin to your web browser. There are pluses and minuses for each method.

Using a browser plugin such as a proxy switcher (we have linked to one below) it is possible to list proxies by location and then you can simply choose a location from the drop down menu. This will enable you to appear as if your physical location is somewhere else. People use this method on location logging forums such as Topix, where your location is displayed when you post. Using such a proxy switch you can post from China one minute, the next from Canada or the USA - anywhere in the world you so choose.

Web Proxies:
Web-based proxies are easier to use and do not require any installation. The downside is that many of them do not allow posting - something you would need for forums. Not only that, but many of them are struggling to pay for themselves as they are not a good business - therefore, they must rely upon all kinds of popups and popunders to generate revenue. This can be annoying - the whole time you are trying to surf you are being bombarded with advertisements claiming that you really are the 1,000,000th visitor to some site and have won something... really! You can search Google for lists of Web Proxies or HTTP proxies. Turn on your popup blocker!

Proxy Browser Plugins:
There are a number of good browser plugins for Firefox that you can use. A good one is the Switch Proxy Tool.

First, you should install Firefox. Then, get one of the proxy add-ons. Once you have the proxy addon installed, you must then find lists of proxies that you can use. One such list may be found here: http://proxy-list.org/en/index.php

These proxies come and go frequently and a proxy that worked fine one week, may not work so well the next week.

Screenshot of the "Multi-Proxy" Firefox addon in action:

You will get a toolbar on the bottom right corner of your browser which will allow you to change proxies just by clicking! The above image shows how simple it works. I can post to forums from any of the locations you see in the list above... I can list as many proxies as I like and can add them from all over the world. Notice, there is even a satellite provider on the list! I can tell people I am on the moon! :)

Download it here: MultiProxy Switch.

You can also try SwitchProxy.

TOR

Tor is free software as well as an open network that helps you defend against network surveillance and snooping eyes that would invade your personal freedom and privacy, snoop on your confidential business activities and relationships, and protects agains big-brother government snooping known as traffic analysis.

Tor works by bouncing communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world. It blocks snoops from monitoring your Internet connection and learning what sites you visit, and it prevents the sites you visit from learning your geographical location. Tor works with many of your existing applications, including web browsers, instant messaging clients, remote login, and other applications based on the TCP protocol.

Get TOR here: http://www.torproject.org

You can also get a TOR Button plugin for Firefox: TOR Button

Using an Internet Cafe or Hotspot to change your IP address

A simple but somewhat more complicated way to hide your IP address is to actually visit an internet cafe or coffee shop which offers a WiFi hotspot. Then you will display the IP address of the location you are browsing from.

Be sure to disconnect from any VPN that you might use as that would reveal your home server location. It is best to check your IP address by visiting our homepage to be sure that you are revealing the desired IP Address.

Wardriving

The may not be legal in some jurisdictions and/or under some circumstances.
Wardriving is the act of seeking out unprotected WiFi networks that you can connect to easily, thereby using someone else's IP address, usually without their knowledge or permission.

There are a number of tools that wardrivers will use to seek out and find a suitable network... including a detector that mounts on the windshield of their car so that it will alert them to any WiFi networks that they happen to stumble across while driving.

There is also a lot of information on the Internet about how to build a wide variety of antennas (Pringles can waveguide antennas, Yagi-Uda antennas) that can greatly increase the range of networks you can find and log onto.

The laws on this vary... some regard this activity as benign, as people have left their networks broadcasting without any security, so using it would be the same as, say, breathing the air that breezes across their property. Others regard it as bandwidht theft.

Be sure to check the regulations where you live before you attempt to do this.

Combinations of the above methods

Some people will link proxies - while war-driving or using a WiFi hotspot. This way, if their proxy is ever traced, it leads to an Internet cafe or some other dead end.