[sally]

Can someone please explain in idiot english how IP addresses work.

My programmer has tried to explain why I can't block the whole of Nigeria but he only speaks geek and I don't understand him.

Is there a way to block a country or a foreign provider?

[JohnG]

My daughter is married to a French computer whiz. He speaks geek very rapidly and in a strong French accent.

You think you've got problems?

[sally]

That is so funny John

I find after asking the same question 3 times I am too embarrassed to ask a forth time. Some people seem to be unable to come down to my level of understanding

[CPLTD]

Hi Sally,

This explaination may help.

An IP Address, short for Internet Protocol address, is a string of four numbers, each ranging from 0 to 255, separated by periods, that uniquely identifies a specific computer on the Internet. For example, a computer may bear the following IP information: 163.024.163.27

This IP information is necessary because when you are on the Internet, you will then be able to receive e-mail messages, text and images from the Web sites you browse, etc. Normally your Internet Service Provider (ISP) will assign you a dynamic (temporary) IP address that lasts only for the length of your session on the Internet. If you reconnect to the Internet later, you will receive another temporary IP address. Computers with fixed (static) IP addresses use the domain name system to let others on the Internet reach them by entering just an identifying name, not some cumbersome four-part series of numbers. Therefore, this technical brief will show you how to view your Computers IP Information.


Viewing Your Computer’s IP Information

Begin by first clicking on the Start Button.

Then click on the Run Icon, which will open up the Run Menu for you.

Locate the white area of the screen next to the word Open: in the Run Menu.

Now type in the word COMMAND and click on the OK button at the bottom of the screen.

For Windows XP, you can also type in the word CMD and then click on the OK button.

This will launch the Window’s DOS Prompt Command Window for you.

Now using your keyboard, type IPCONFIG /ALL and press the Enter key.

Windows will now display the IP Configuration Information for your computer.

When finished, simply close the Command Prompt window to return back to Windows.

Ok now with regards to blocking an ip address or a range of addresses you can do this by using some freely available software called peer guardian http://phoenixlabs.org/pg2/

May I ask why you wish to block a whole county as I sure you cannot do this,

[sally]

I want to block Nigeria because of the amount of scammers that join dating sites, I have caught 4 in the last week. I run their IP through a locator and they come up as Nigeria but as soon as you kick them off they swap IPs and join as someone else.

I am worried about the confidence members will have in the site if it keeps happening but if I could block Nigeria it would minimise the problem.

[CPLTD]

I believe you can use some scripting for your website called geo targeting to stop traffic from particular countries, mabye Sandra from Indizine can help here Sally as Im not sure about blocking traffic from countries I took a look on google and it seems possible.

[sally]

Is there some way I can find a range of IP addresses in Nigeria and block them with that tool?

[CPLTD]

Show this to your web designer Sally

You can block access from entire countries quite easily using the FREE maxmind geoip download.

Install mod_geoip and configure your httpd.conf (or .htaccess) with :-
GeoipEnable On
GeoipDBFile /path/to/Geoip.dat #to block Nigeria
SetEnvIf GEOip_COUNTRY_CODE NG blockCountry
Deny from env=blockCountry

[sally]

Have forwarded all that info on, thank you so much.

Of course he will probably say but I told you that but I do wish he could speak plain english

[CPLTD]

Im sure you can get in touch with your hosting provider and they can block countres for you also Sally ,