Definition:  A numerical value that been assigned to a device/computer/node in order for it to join/participate/communicate in a network. IP address only has a valid combination of number 0 – 255 (which consist of 256 digits as 0 is also counted)

IP address must be unique in each device/computer/node and cannot have a duplicate in the same network. IP address usually is represented in dotted-decimal notation for example 112.243.137.100

IP address is divided into 2 purposes; one is for external (normal use) and internal (private network, localhost). The internal IP is only usable within the Local Area Network (LAN). It will not pass through the modem/router and people from outside the network normally won’t be able to connect/enter to your device through the usage of private IP. But by using Virtual Private Network (VPN), you are able to connect in between different private networks.

The example of Private Network IP:

1)      10.0.0.0 – 10.255.255.255

2)      172.16.0.0 – 172.31.255.255

3)      192.168.0.0 – 192.168.255.255

Localhost is the standard hostname given to an IP address of a loopback network interface. For example by typing http://localhost, it will redirect to the http server located inside your own server (if applicable). The localhost IP is 127.0.0.0 – 127.255.255.255

There are current 2 types of IP address that being used:

1)      IPv4 – a 32 bit address which currently been widely used and nearing exhaustion

2)      IPv6 –  recently introduced to replace the IPv4 which uses 128 bit addresses

IP address has several different Class from A – E:

Class A = 0.0.0.0 – 127.255.255.255

Class B = 128.0.0.0 – 191.255.255.255

Class C = 192.0.0.0 – 223.255.255.255

Class D = 224.0.0.0 – 239.255.255.255*

Class E = 240.0.0.0 – 255.255.255.255*

*Please note that both Class D and E IP are not usable / not suitable for normal networking

SUBNETWORK

Definition: A logical form of division / segmentation of the IP address. It helps to determine the IP address location in a large network.

For performance and security reason, IP address usually is segmented / divided into various configurations which are called Subnet Mask.

Subnet Mask usually show how many IP range that attached to that particular configuration. It also acts as a validation for IP address whether it belongs to the network or not. Below is the most common subnet mask used for a normal full block of 256 IP address:

CLASSLESS INTER-DOMAIN ROUTING (CIDR)

Definition: A methodology to describe the allocation of the IP address in a network. It was created to replace the old Class A, B, and C routing scheme which helps to manage the IP exhaustion problem. It is also a conversion from the Subnet Mask.

GATEWAY

Definition:  A node stands in between for the IP address to pass through to another network. The IP address gateway functions exactly the same manner.

Gateway also can be use as a firewall or proxy to monitor and filter your incoming and outgoing packets.

Usually gateway will be the node to route your packet request to reach its destination. This will be involving a few gateways on each network depending on how far your destination is.

DOMAIN NAME SYSTEM (DNS)

Definition: Allows computer and routers to identify each other efficiently on the network.

It helps to route, convert and translate hostname into IP address. This is because human is prone to using domain name to get anywhere but in the meanwhile the computer only recognize the IP address.

So DNS helps to convert the domain name typed by the human into IP address for the computer to read. Then it will send the packets that contain the IP address throughout the gateway until it reach its destination.

MEDIA ACCESS CONTROL (MAC) ADDRESS

Definition: is a unique identifier inside the network interface card for identification purposes in a network.

It was originally set by the network interface card’s manufacturer for their manufacturing number hence MAC address is unique in every network card. MAC address is not being use to set a normal network connection. It is only will be used inside the OSI layer. An example of how a MAC address looks like 00:E0:81:BA:E6:4A

A SUBNET OF IP ADDRESS

If you got a block of IPs from the service provider, first you need to understand how the IPs is assigned inside the block (unless they have specified earlier for your convenience).

Each of the IP address subnet will contain Network ID (Identification purposes), Broadcast (broadcasting the IP throughout the network), and a Gateway. Below is an example of a 122.117.163.96/29 physical distribution:

In the table above, it will show that the only usable IP will be only starting from 122.117.163.98 – 102. The same configuration will apply no matter how big or small the IP subnet your are getting from the service provider.

ASSIGNING IP ADDRESS

When installing a new server, normally an IP address needs to be set in order for the server to be connected to the network. The most important information that needs to be prepared when getting the server connected to the network is:

1)      IP address – identify your server on the network

2)      Subnet mask – verify the IP address grouping

3)      IP gateway – provides the entry to the network

4)      DNS – resolves domain/host name to IP address

As been mentioned earlier, all these components have its own function and how they relate to each other to make the server connected to the network. Failure to provide or wrong set of configuration, the server won’t be able to connect to the network.

Usable proxy list:
219.93.178.162:3128

updated: 26/04/2010

Firefox setting:

Tools ->Options->Advance->Network->Settings

Internet Explorer Setting:

Tools -> Internet Options -> Connections -> Lan Settings

Notes: If you happen to get error message while surfing the net using this proxy, which means this proxy is no longer usable.

Download: Opera v9.60

Release Notes

Opera 9.6 is a recommended security and stability upgrade. See the Security section.

A separate changelog listing changes since Opera 9.6 Beta 1 is available.

New and improved features in Opera 9.6

Opera Link

Custom search engines and typed history (typed history is only the history you explicitly type or select from the address bar) are now joining bookmarks, notes, personal bar and Speed Dial in Opera Link.

Opera Mail

Feed Preview

Now you can preview an RSS/Atom feed before subscribing.

Follow/Ignore threads and contacts

Follow and Ignore are new features for users that receive numerous messages. It makes it easier to dismiss unimportant messages and easier to recognise important messages.

• Activate this feature by selecting Follow/Ignore in the email context menu (or click the message subject header), then select either Follow Thread or Ignore Thread.
• Also, you can click the names in the From or To headers to enable the following or ignoring of contacts.

Go To Thread

You can now also use “Go to thread” which means that you can view only the messages from that thread. This is useful for those that employ flat view.

Low Bandwidth Mode

Low Bandwidth Mode is a setting on mail accounts that makes Opera Mail use as little bandwidth as possible.

• For IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol): Opera will only synchronise new messages and it will not fetch message attachments unless requested
• For POP (Post Office Protocol): Opera will not fetch more than the first 100 lines of a message unless requested

Opera Scroll Marker

The new Opera Scroll Marker makes it easier to continue reading when you scroll through a Web page. At the end of the page it will indicate the previous position of the bottom of the screen so you can easily see where to continue reading.

Enable Opera Scroll Marker in the Preferences dialog box. Navigate to Tools > Preferences > Advanced > Browsing > Show scroll marker (check box).

• Check the box to enable Opera Scroll Marker
• Leave the box unchecked (default) to keep it disabled

Using the opera:config Preferences Editor opera:config#UserPrefs|EnableScrollMarker, you can also set Opera Scroll Marker to show every time you scroll less than a full page down or up. The options in the drop-down menu are:

• 0 — off
• 1 — show when reaching the bottom or top of the page
• 2 — always show when scrolling

Changes since Opera 9.52

User Interface

• Opera now remembers the bookmark panel position after restart
• Added a setting opera:config#UserPrefs|ShowBookmarksInAddressfieldAutocompletion to prevent bookmarks from showing in the Address field auto-completion drop-down
• When setting opera:config#TransferWindow|KeepEntriesDays to 0, Opera now removes the transfer history when restarting
• Sites using HTTP Auth are now saved in typed history
• Opera now stops loading pages with iframes when closing the page or pressing stop
• Page encoding in site preferences can now be reset to automatic
• Browsing Intranet sites now works after changing proxies in a running session
• Improvements to Opera Link include the synchronization of search engines and typed history
• Changed the default global history to 1000
• Added a new default speedial.ini
• Fixed sorting by progress in Transfers
• Fixed copying of multiple entries from the history manager
• Fixed a bug that could cause notes to be lost when using certain characters
• Fixed dataloss situation when note folders had more than one line in their name
• Fixed spurious highlighting when using the space character in inline find
• Fixed an issue that would prevent links in frames from being opened by the keyboard

Mail, News, Chat

• Added popular Chinese providers in mailproviders.xml
• Made all top-level access points (except All Messages) selectable
• Now copes better with broken POP servers that send empty UIDLs
• The “Large font” setting is now respected for subjects
• Cache files from feeds no longer show up in Transfers
• Feeds are now detected even when served as text/html
• Fixed the synchronization of removed labels for IMAP accounts
• Fixed an issue where the signatures wouldn’t change if the default account signature ended with a space
• Fixed an issue where sent message bodies could disappear under certain circumstances
• Fixed DCC transfers in IRC

Display and Scripting

• Improved Acid3 support: The document property has been removed from iframe objects for compatibility with Gecko, WebKit, and the Acid3 test
• Added support for the caller property on functions: http://developer.mozilla.org/En/Core_JavaScript_1.5_Reference:Global_Objects:Function:caller
• Special characters are now displayed properly in the Address bar drop-down
• Opera Dragonfly element highlighting no longer stays on the page after closing the developer tools window
• Script focused elements are no longer highlighted
• Fixed saving of SVG when right clicking
• Fixed an issue where custom search engines would not get a favicon

Security

• Verisign and Comodo are now formally EV-enabled: see Yngve’s blog post
• Fixed an issue where specially crafted addresses could execute arbitrary code, as reported by Chris of Matasano Security; see our advisory
• Java applets can no longer be used to read sensitive information, as reported by Nate McFeters; see our advisory

Miscellaneous

• Added the Opera Core version (currently “Presto/2.1.1″) to the User Agent header
• Improved performance with large wand.dat files
• Fixed Fast Forward on Google search results pages

Windows-specific changes

• Fixed a bug where network paths that start with \\ would not work, which in particular caused issues with sent mail when storing profiles on network drives
• Fixed installation problems on Windows NT 4.0

Although sharing some types of MP3 files is considered illegal, there are still people who have uploaded them. We can always use Google to search for these MP3 files, provided you know the complex codes that are required. I stumbled upon two websites that enables us to easily search for MP3 files on the Internet.

Website #1: Download browser
There are four steps that you need to follow in this instruction. Just follow them and you should be fine.

Website #2: GP2
This is an easier alternative. You can search for other items apart from songs using this website.

Recent research conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Yahoo! on the state of the Web shows that consumers are suffering from “Web search fatigue.” The study revealed that while 99 percent of online adults use a search engine to find information on the Internet, a mere 15 percent of them find what they’re looking for with their first search, with most needing to conduct three to four searches.

“The new Yahoo! Search is focused on getting consumers the most relevant information as well as providing the best user experience. We know that consumers want a complete answer, not a bunch of links, and the changes we’ve made are focused on getting people to the best answer — whether it be a Web link, photo, video or music clip — in one search,” said Vish Makhijani, general manager and senior vice president of Yahoo! Search.

Only available from Yahoo!, Search Assist goes beyond basic search “suggestions” and gives consumers real-time query suggestions as well as related topics and concepts, which is especially valuable when a person is searching on an unfamiliar topic.

Yahoo! Search Assist is there for consumers when they need it and is out of their way when they don’t. Yahoo! Search Assist senses when a consumer needs help with their search and opens a drop down menu of suggestions and related concepts (see diagram 1) that enables further exploration around their search topic.

In addition to the new Search Assist feature, Yahoo! Search has also introduced multimedia integration including video, audio and photos (see diagram 2) directly into the search results, allowing consumers to get their answer — whether it’s a Web link, photo, video or music clip — without leaving the page.

As part of the new Yahoo! Search, consumers will also see new Yahoo! Search Shortcuts, with the most useful information found on the Web and contributed by other online users. The new shortcuts were designed to help consumers save time when searching for popular categories such as events, music, movies, travel, sports, health, shopping, businesses and restaurants (see diagram 3). Yahoo! Search Shortcuts integrate ratings and reviews, photos, official websites and other useful information, giving consumers a complete answer for their search.

The new Yahoo! Search features are available immediately at yahoo.com in the United States, and Yahoo! Search Assist will also be available in the near future in the United Kingdom.