IP to Earth

very good
key review info
application features
  • Determing the source country of an IP
  • (1 more, see all...)

Internet browsing is so common that it has become a usual task in our every day's life. The great part is that for connecting to the Internet, you don't necessarily need to be in a fixed location. While some do it at work, others at home, well, thanks to wireless networks, some can do it anywhere. But have you ever wondered how all these connections are possible? How is it possible for your browser to connect to a certain web page?

Every computer or device that is connected to a network, in our case the World Wide Web (WWW), is assigned a unique address called IP address. These "IDs" are governed by the IANA(Internet Assigned Number Authority). After a well organized protocol called IP (Internet Protocol), two or more computers are able to establish connections, guiding themselves after their addresses. There are two kinds of IP addresses that a computer may have. A local address, when it is part of a local network, and a public address when it connects to other networks through the Internet.

There are different types of local addresses as well as there are different public ones. Local addresses are allocated taking into account the size of the network a computer is part of. As there are five types of networks, there are also five types of local IP addresses. Class A networks have as start address 0.0.0.0, Class B networks start their addresses from 128.0.0.0, Class C from 192.0.0.0, Class D (many-to-many communication) from 224.0.0.0 and Class E (reserved) which is a special one; those have as start address 240.0.0.0 and are used for experimental purposes. From these start addresses, a network administrator establishes a number of IP addresses suitable for the number of computers or devices that are connected in that network. On the other hand, Public IP addresses are unique and are allocated depending on the country.

IP Country Lookup is an application that is able to find the country that matches the IP address or host name. Matching the IP address to a country is possible by converting the 8-bit address format to a 10-bit code that is assigned to each country. Converting the host name to an IP address is achieved by searching the DNS (Domain Name Servers) until a match on the domain name is found. This process is also known as the DNS lookup.

To fulfill its task, the application uses the data base located in its installation folder and searches for a suitable answer. The disadvantage of the software is that it is unable to work offline when it comes to matching host name to country. For IP addresses, the application has a data base that contains the address codes for each country.

IP Country Lookup has simple looks but it does a good job. When searching for a host name, the application first displays the IP address for that host and then the country depending on the address. However, if you try to find a location for a local IP address, the application is unable to find a country because, as I previously wrote, there are no unique local addresses.

As the program tends to indicate the country where the resources were first allocated and not where the host name or IP address is currently in use, its results may be somehow inaccurate. These situations are difficult and most of the times, very hard to locate. But for a free real-time Geo-Locater IP, Country Lookup is a useful application because due to its results, it is possible to analyze network log for malicious activity, detect online fraud and even optimize server-side anti-spam email filter configuration.

The Good

IP Country Lookup is a quite accurate Geo-Locater that can search for a country both by a given IP address and by a host name. It is a small application and it has no special system requirements.

The Bad

Taking into account that it uses DNS search, it provides little information about the host name or IP address. The application is unable to create a desktop or quick launch link so if you want to access it, you must either look for it or create yourself a desktop link.

The Truth

It is a DNS utility so it doesn't need a data base for host names but also, it cannot work offline when it comes to this feature. Besides curiosity, the application may become useful when using the information provided in order to work in a more secure environment.

Here are some snapshots of the application in action:

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user interface 4
features 4
ease of use 5
pricing / value 5


final rating 4
Editor's review
very good
 
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