Using PFStaticIP is the easiest way to setup a static IP address on your computer. When PFStaticIP first lanches it will scan your computer for IP addresses and display the results to you on screen.
On computers that have more than one network card, you can pick which network card you want to configure from the drop down at the top of the screen.
If your IP Address is currently Dynamic, you can change it to Static by clicking the Make it Static button at the bottom of the screen.
You will see the Static IP Address Details screen. Don't worry if any of this doesn't make sense to you. You can simply click Apply and let PFStaticIP make all the choices for you. PFStaticIP will recommend a static IP address based on your current IP address and your routers IP address. It will also suggest what your DNS servers should be set to. If you want to change any of these values, feel free to do so on this screen.
You will also notice a list of Unavailable IP Addresses on the right. These are the IP addresses that are currently assigned to other devices on your network. You should never have 2 devices on your network with the same IP address.
After you click Apply on this screen you will be prompted with a warning that you are about to change your network settings and might lose Internet connectivity.
On Windows 7 and Vista you might get a UAC, or User Account Control popup at this point in time. Changing the IP address settings on a computer is a restricted activity that only an Admin can do. If you are not an Admin you will have to type in the password of an Admin to make the change. If you are an Admin you can simply click the Ok button and then changes will be made. PFStaticIP will attempt to only ask you this once per session in order to keep the annoyance to a minimum.
Some users, like on a laptop, move from network to network. It can be inconvenient to have to change your static IP address depending on which network you are on, and difficult to keep track of which IP address you are supposed to use at each location. With PFStaticIP you can save an IP address setup and load it again at a later time. Load and Save are only available on static IP addresses, not on dynamic IP addresses.
Once you are happy with a static IP address setup and want to save it, simply click the Save link on the left. You will be asked for a short file name to save the settings under.
If you have saved a previous static IP address setup you can load it again by clicking the Load link on the left of the screen. You will be presented with a list of saved setups that you can choose from.
If you want to go back to a Dynamic IP address you can simply click the Make it Dynamic button at the bottom of the main screen. You will see a warning that says your network settings are about to be changed. After clicking Apply Changes your IP address will be changed back to dynamic. Be sure to wait about 20 or 30 seconds for your router to respond to this change. It does not happen fast for most people. Feel free to click the Refresh button a few times and watch as your settings change.
In some rare cases dynamic IP addresses need to be released and renewed. This used to be a very common occurrence but modern day operating systems have made it much less required. Just in case it is ever needed it has been included as an option when your IP address is set to dynamic.
Some users may recognize this as similar to a familiar old program made by Microsoft called WinIPCfg, which stands for Windows IP Configuration. PFStaticIP is very similar to WinIPCfg. In fact PFStaticIP is an excellent replacement for WinIPCfg, which is no longer made or distributed by Microsoft.