I input the ip address of one of our forum members into internetfrog.com It came up with a location in the states, but I thought they were in another country. They are probably using a PC in an internet cafe... Anyway do you know how these things work? If vBulletin has given me their ip and I enter it into the internet frog thing and gives a location, is that the location of the computer they are using or possibly another location based on internet providers or server locations or something?
LOL. That thing tells me I am just outside of Topeka, Kansas. I am pretty sure I am a couple of thousand miles away. There was another program I used once, let me dig that up. <edit>This is not an online tool, but I have used it and it is a really cool app. You can get it at [ur=http://www.download.com/NeoTrace-Pro/3000-2648_4-7139158.html?tag=lst-0-2]download.com[/url]</edit>
It's easy to set up a proxy, so there is really no way to be sure where they are located by using the log.
I use this http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/website-country/ and it gives you the physical location where they are.
Most people use the GeoIP database from Maxmind.com or the database from ip2location.com - the free databases are approximate and if you buy/subscribe you get more accurate results
Thanks for the suggestion sadcox66, but one of those gives me Virginia, the other gives me Minneapolis??? I didn't expect it to be in the US at all so am still unsure really as to where this person is located... maybe if the tools both said the same state I would feel their info was reliable.
The pay-for DB from Maxmind is excellent, the free one less so. Amusingly, I have a customer whose IP range Google believes to be in Austria. GeoIP correctly identifies it as actually being in the UK.