Packet Sniffing may sound like a malicious activity at first glance, but it is actually an ethical way to analyze the network, and diagnose any network related problems. Packet Sniffing tools are used by network technicians for such diagnostic processes. Having said this, there are an equal number of incidences where packet sniffing is used by hackers for malicious activities such as collecting passwords and spying on user traffic.
Freeware Network Sniffer
Microsoft Network Monitor is a free network packet sniffer. This works on Windows PCs, and provides expert capability to see all the network traffic in real time on an intuitive GUI. Microsoft Network Monitor is actively maintained by Microsoft, is available for a completely free download, and has a dedicated support site here. NetworkMiner is a Network Forensic Analysis Tool (NFAT) for Windows that can detect the OS, hostname and open ports of network hosts through packet sniffing or by parsing a PCAP file. NetworkMiner can also extract transmitted files from network traffic.
Here, we are not going to talk about packet sniffing attacks, but some free packet sniffing tools that can be effectively used to diagnose network problems and resolve the issues. Before we present you three packet sniffing tools for Windows, let’s look at how packet sniffing tools work in general.
How Packet Sniffing tools work
There are different types of packet sniffers. Some packet sniffers are used only for detecting hardware related problems. Other packet sniffing tools are actually some software apps that run on the host computers.
The packet sniffing tools intercept and log network traffic. The tools ‘view’ the network using wireless or wired network interface. The packet sniffing tool needs to have access to this interface on its host computer. If it is a wired network, a packet sniffing tool can capture the data which totally depends on the network’s structure.
The network structure might let the packet sniffer tool view traffic on the entire network or it can let it view only a small segment of it. If it’s a wireless network, packet sniffing tools can capture one channel using the wireless interface. If the host computer has multiple wireless interfaces, then the packet sniffer can capture multiple channels.
Win 7 extreme loader download. The sniffing tool then analyzes the captured raw packet data. The analysis is converted by the sniffing tool into a readable format. This analysis is nothing but the conversation between nodes on the network. This very information is helpful for the network technicians to locate the fault.
Free Packet Sniffing Tools for Windows
If you also wish to analyze your network, here are three free packet sniffing tools for Windows.
1. WireShark Packet Sniffer
Wireshark is one of the popular free packet sniffing tools for Windows. This tool can give you an ability to see what’s happening on your network at a microscopic level. Some of the important features of this tool are as follows:
You can try this tool by downloading it from its website.
2. SmartSniff
SmartSniff is yet another free packet sniffing tool that allows you to capture TCP/IP packets that pass through your network adapter, and view the captured data as sequence of conversations between clients and servers. With the help of this network monitoring utility, you can view the TCP/IP conversations in ASCII mode or as hex dump.
Hitachi touro mobile pro driver. SmartSniff provides 3 methods for capturing TCP/IP packets:
If you wish to try this packet sniffing tool, download it from here.
3. Microsoft Message Analyzer
Microsoft Message Analyzer is the successor to Microsoft Network Monitor. It is helpful in capturing, displaying, and analyzing protocol messaging traffic and other system messages. It is not only an effective tool for troubleshooting network issues, but for testing and verifying protocol implementations as well.
Do let us know if you have any other free packet sniffing tools to add.
Network Password Sniffer Windows
You might want to also check out some of these free Network Monitoring Tools.
TIP: Download this tool to quickly find & fix Windows errors automatically
Network Packet Sniffer Windows
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