Why should I care about my IP Address?

While browsing the internet or sending an email your IPAddress can be used to locate your computer and disclose your identity  While this is usually not a problem, there are cases where you would prefer not to be identified. For example you may not be happy with the fact that your employer has a complete record of all the websites you visited, or if you live in China, Iran or other contries that do not respect freedom of speech, protecting your privacy is of utmost importance. The IP Address is also needed for other internet services, such as Remote Control, Voice over IP (VoIP), setting up firewalls, Geolocation, and most importantly for testing and diagnostic purposes.

My IP address seems to be wrong, how can that be?

The IP address shown on this site is always the correct internet address, which is seen by all webservers and hosts you visit. If your computer has a network card and is connected to other PCs at your site, then you have a second, local IP address which is different from the internet address of your DUN connection or your firewall or router, which substitute all internal addresses with a true internet IP address.