Overview

Essential NetTools is a set of network tools useful in diagnosing networks and monitoring your computer's network connections. It's a Swiss Army knife for everyone interested in a set of powerful network tools for everyday use. It includes:

• NetStat: displays the list of your computer's inbound and outbound network connections, including the information on open TCP and UDP ports, IP address, and connection states. What makes it different from other NetStat utilities is the ability to map open ports to the owning application. (This feature is available under Windows NT/2000/XP.)
• NBScan: a powerful and fast NetBIOS scanner. NBScan can scan a network within a given range of IP addresses and list computers offering NetBIOS resource-sharing service, as well as their name tables and MAC addresses. Unlike the standard nbtstat utility supplied with Windows, this tool provides a graphical user interface and easy management of the lmhosts file and features parallel scanning, which allows checking a class C network in less than one minute. NBScan can facilitate routine tasks often carried out by system integrators, administrators, and analysts.
• PortScan: an advanced TCP port scanner that allows you to scan your network for active ports. This tool features both conventional (full connect) and stealth (half-open) scanning modes.
• Shares: monitors and logs external connections to your computer's shared resources, as well as provides a quick and easy way to connect to remote resources that gives Windows 98/Me users NT user-level connectivity features. Unlike Windows NT, Windows 98/Me has no user-level connectivity after the boot: you can specify a password, but not a username. This tool allows you to set both a username and a password.
• LMHosts: a convenient editor of the lmhosts file integrated with NBScan.
• NetAudit (NetBIOS Auditing Tool): allows you to perform various security checks on your network and/or individual computers offering the NetBIOS file sharing service. This tool can help you identify potential security flaws.
• RawTCP: provides you with the ability to establish low-level TCP connections to troubleshoot different networking services. Multi-color output and a convenient interface make it a great tool for every network administrator or computer programmer.
• TraceRoute and Ping: these familiar utilities featuring customizable options and a convenient results presentation allow you to explore the Internet and troubleshoot connectivity problems.
• NSLookup: allows you to convert IP addresses to hostnames and vice versa, obtain aliases, and perform advanced DNS queries, such as MX or CNAME.
• ProcMon: displays the list of running processes with full information on the program location, manufacturer, process ID, and the loaded modules. With this tool, you can identify hidden applications, kill running processes, and manage the usage of your PC's resources more effectively.

Other features include report generation in HTML, text, and comma delimited formats; quick IP address sharing between different tools; and a customizable interface.