What is MAC?
A Media Access Control address (MAC address) is a unique identifier assigned to network interfaces for communications on the physical network segment. MAC addresses are most often assigned by the manufacturer of a network interface card (NIC) and are stored in its hardware, the card's read-only memory, or some other firmware mechanism. If assigned by the manufacturer, a MAC address usually encodes the manufacturer's registered identification number. It may also be known as an Ethernet hardware address (EHA), hardware address, adapter address, or physical address. An Ethernet MAC address is a six byte number, usually expressed as a twelve digit hexadecimal number.(Example - 4A:BC:C2:04:AB:1F).
Although intended to be a permanent and globally unique identification, it is possible to change the MAC address on most of today's hardware, an action often referred to as MAC spoofing. Unlike IP address spoofing, where senders spoofing their address in a request direct the receiver into sending the response elsewhere, in MAC address spoofing, the response is received by the spoofing party. However, MAC address spoofing is limited to the local broadcast domain.
Most Internet subscriptions allow the customer only a single IP address. The Internet Service Provider (ISP) may assign one static (fixed) IP address to each customer. However, this approach is an inefficient use of IP addresses that are currently in short supply. The ISP more commonly issues each customer dynamic IP address that may change each time the customer connects to the Internet.
ISPs ensure each customer receives only one dynamic address using several methods. Dial-up and many DSL services typically require the customer to log in with a username and password. Cable modem services, on the other hand, do this by registering and tracking the MAC address of the device that connects to the ISP.
The device whose MAC address is monitored by an ISP can be either the cable modem, a broadband router, or the PC that hosts the Internet connection. The customer is free to build a network behind this equipment, but the ISP expects the MAC address to match the registered value at all times.
Whenever a customer replaces that device, however, or changes the network adapter inside it, the MAC address of this new equipment will no longer match the one registered at the ISP. The ISP will often disable the customer's Internet connection for security (and billing) reasons.
Although MAC addresses do not reveal any geographic location information like IP addresses do, changing MAC addresses may improve your Internet privacy in some situations. There is a software available which can be used for changing mac address.
Technique 1: A Hard Way
Under Windows XP, the MAC address can be changed in the Ethernet adapter's Properties menu, in the Advanced tab, as "MAC Address", "Locally Administered Address", "Ethernet Address" or "Network Address". The exact name depends on the Ethernet driver used; not all drivers support changing the MAC address in this way.
However, a better solution - requiring Administrative User Rights - is to pass over the System Registry Keys under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E972-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}. Here settings for each network interface can be found. The contents of the string value called 'NetworkAddress' will be used to set the MAC address of the adapter when next it is enabled. Resetting the adapter can be accomplished in script with the freely available command line utility devcon from Microsoft, or from the adapters context menu in the Network Connections control panel applet.
Note: to check your MAC address easily on a Windows XP box, go to Run, type CMD, then type "ipconfig /all" without quotation in the command prompt. The number under physical address is the MAC address. If multiple IP are displayed, you should look under the label "Ethernet adapter x", where x is the name of your connection (which is Local Area Connection by default).
Technique 2: Try these softwares.
Download Technitium MAC Address Changer From HERE
Download SMAC MAC Address Changer From HERE
Download Mac MakeUp From HERE
Download MadMACs Form HERE
Download EtherChange From HERE
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