Simple . . . Click on the
button. It is a very straightforward installation.
PeopleWithMS.com |
Chat |
Sam Spade is a network detective program. (SamSpade.org is non-commercial, receives no funding, and accepts no advertising.) In the context of PeopleWithMS, it is primarily useful in chat for Room Administrators attempting to detect the location of a new chatter. This is primarily through the use of the traceroute tool, which goes well beyond the limited function of Dreamchat. (Traceroute is a function native to Windows NT/2000/XP and any Unix variant - just made more convenient in this packaging).
There are a wide variety of other interesting network functions available within the program. Generally, some degree of technical knowledge is required to use or understand them effectively. But that's not to say you can't tinker with them, maybe find a few clues. You won't break anything.
Simple . . . Click on the
When you are in Dreamchat, you can click on a persons's name in the right upper panel. This gives you a set of "Options" down in the Message Box. One of those options is "Actions." And one of those actions is "Trace." When you hit Go, a new window pops up, containing their IP address. (You may have to look on the "Start BAR" to find that window if it's hidden.) All you need Dreamchat for is the initial IP address lookup function, so copy the number and close the window.
This is pretty simple, and usually answers the question of where generally someone is coming from.
Just put the IP address in the top left box. Select "Trace" from the left sidebar. It will open a window showing each network node it has to go through to get to the chatter's IP address. Ignore the numbers, just observe the addresses to the right. The blue address is the name of a machine that had to be traversed to get to the IP, and often you will get location cues from the abbreviated names, ranging from some national hub, to a regional one, to a state or local address.
For Example:
Placing IP number 24.164.123.9 into the top left box, and selecting "Trace" from the menu along the left will come up with an end router node of; pos1-0.wdhmoh1-ubr1.neo.rr.com What's this mean ? From looking at the prior hops, you know that to get to the final IP address, it had to go through Chicago, and then some things that look like Ohio. One might speculate that wdhmoh1 translates to Warner Dayton-Hamilton-Ohio-Router #1
The bottom line is going to be the address of the router closest to the chatter. This may or may not be specific enough to give you a real good idea of where in the world the chatter is from. More detective work may be required !
Using the "Dig" tool you can find out a bit more information about either the ending IP or the last router. In the case above, the name servers for that last router node are in Columbus, Ohio. Often a good clue.
(A note on name servers . . . Your ISP has a bunch of name servers (like "Phone Books of Domain and machine names). Check your ISP's site for your name servers, probably under the "Manual E-Mail Configuration" section)
The other Sam Spade tools are of less use to the Room Administrator.
