Why Change Mac Address?

‘Why should I change Mac address in my system’? This is a question that arises in the minds of many people getting to know that they can make this happen. Many computer users do not have any clue that they can make this change.

Some people are of the opinion that websites on the World Wide Web can track them with the help of their MAC address and so they look for different options available to change it. The thing to remember here is that the MAC address, do not go farther than the first router obtained by the IP Packet. This is because, this is just an identity at the layer of the data link. So, this cannot be the important reason, why the Mac address should be changed. However, there are some legitimate reasons as to why such a change should occur and they are detailed below:

Change Mac Address

When your Internet Service Provider uses it as the identity or authenticate the net connection. In such a case, when there is something wrong on your network card and you are intending to change the network card, there will be a change in your Mac address and so the internet connection will not work. In such a case, changing the address to the old network adapter can quickly fix the problem, as against requesting your ISP to take into the account, the new one. In such a case, it will take a number of days.

Also, you can change Mac Address, when you wish to access a network that limits access on the basis of this identity from one system to another, then you can make the modification on the system that you have access to. But, remember that only one system can have the identity and you should never enter the same identity on another system.

Change Mac Address

Privacy is another reason to make such a modification. With a simple tool, anyone using the same local area network can see your Mac address. For instance, if a hacker gets an opportunity, he can track computers on the network with their Mac identity. This is still more a risky thing, when you are on a wireless network or when you use a public Wi-Fi network in a common area like airport, hotel or coffee shop. If a hacker finds your original Mac Address, he can use it for impersonating you.

For the above-mentioned reasons, it becomes important to make changes to the Mac Address.