Do I Need IPv6 on enabled?

[Veep Peep 13]

Hello,

I have Ipv6 enabled on my computer, but am not sure if it is used.

Is it needed?  How do I check?

If not, should I remove it?

I found it on W10 under network properties-->ethernet properties-->controller -->check mark beside Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6)

Thanks,

V

[OpenSourcerer 1359]

13 hours ago, Veep Peep said:

I have Ipv6 enabled on my computer, but am not sure if it is used.

It's preferred on every operating system I know of, so probably yes. If something on the net is not available on IPv6, IPv4 is used within milliseconds. This is a mechanism of operating both IP versions at the same time (aka "Dual Stack") called Happy Eyeballs.

For the record, disabling it won't make your connection more stable or faster. If you're dealing with that kind of problem, you should check your router and maybe give your ISP a call.

[Veep Peep 13]

Great info!

Is IPv6 safer?  Or can it give a tracking company (ie Google) more info like device info?
*I watched a video on the internet warning*

Thanks,

V

[OpenSourcerer 1359]

3 hours ago, Veep Peep said:

Is IPv6 safer?  Or can it give a tracking company (ie Google) more info like device info?

Define "safer".
Note that every host out there must have a globally unique address, regardless of whether you're talking v4 or v6.

• In v4, though, you don't get unique global v4 addresses assigned because there is no room left for devices. That's why Network Address Translation exists: One device in the network gets the unique v4 address, anyone wishing to use the internet simply joins the network(s) behind that device, and all devices then appear to have come from the same IP address. It's what so many VPN provider networks are based on: A traditional NAT.
• In v6, every device assigns itself a globally unique v6 address. A device gets the first half of the v6 address from a router, then calculates the last half randomly (Privacy Extensions enabled, the widely used, de-facto standard) or derives it from its MAC address (then called the 64-bit Extended Unique Identifier, or EUI-64). The last one is kinda static, and the other is kinda dynamic and changing everytime you reconnect to a network (which is why it's the widely used, de-facto standard).

Can v6 give more info? Absolutely.
Can v4 give more info? Just as much.
Also note that most ways to identify you don't even use IP addresses.

[Terry Stanford 11]

Great answer above OS.
I have a related question. After many uninstalls/re-installs of Eddie lately, I found that the default setting upon installation has a tick in the 'disable ipv6 if issue detected' box. I don't really understand what that means, I don't even know if my machine uses IPV6! But I wondered whether that tick is best left in place or not

[OpenSourcerer 1359]

2 hours ago, Terry Stanford said:

I have a related question. After many uninstalls/re-installs of Eddie lately, I found that the default setting upon installation has a tick in the 'disable ipv6 if issue detected' box. I don't really understand what that means, I don't even know if my machine uses IPV6! But I wondered whether that tick is best left in place or not

If Eddie detects a configuration error of IPv6, as in, it couldn't use native IPv6 to connect somewhere, it's completely blocked instead to rule out IPv6 address leaks. After all, it could be an intermittent error on Eddie's side while the system as a whole actually does have IPv6 connectivity. This option is ticked by default because, and it pains me to write this, most of the world's devices still don't use IPv6 whereas issues with IPv4 are practically nonexistent. You can say, the world is still running on IPv4.