Most of the devices we use today are constantly connected to the internet, and usually, we know very little about what they're doing.Whether you're a self-hosting enthusiast looking to pick up a few new helpful tools or someone that just wants to make their PC a little more secure, here are three great Windows networking apps to get you started.nmap Simple, versatile, and powerful Nmap is a free and open-source network scanner that is designed to give you a bird's eye view of what your network is doing.
With nmap, you can scan your network to determine: What devices are connected What ports are open on the devices Identify services on those devices Determine what operating system the device is running If you're running a full-blown homelab, or even just self-hosting a few small services on a Raspberry Pi and an old Windows 10 PC, nmap makes it easy to keep track of what devices you have connected.I've frequently made use of nmap as a troubleshooting tool in my own self-hosting experiments.Sometimes even simple information—like identifying which ports are open on a given device—can turn an elusive problem into one you can solve by running a single command.
Related 4 Ways to Pinpoint Inevitable Network Outages on Linux Restarting your router or computer will only take you so far.You need to identify the source of the problem to fix it.Posts 3 By Graeme Peacock I've also occasionally discovered devices I attached to the network and then forgot about.
Wireshark For deeper analysis If nmap is designed to give you a bird's eye view of your network and what it is doing, then Wireshark is the exact opposite.It lets you dig into the nitty-gritt details.Wireshark works by analyzing your network packet-by-packet.
It can be an overwhelming amount of information, but it does have its uses.Consider the case where a website is loading slowly, but you don't know why.Your internet speed seems fine when you test it, and your connection to other devices on your local area network seems fine.
You can start by using Wireshark to analyze how long your browser takes to send and receive a message from the DNS server.If it is on the order of a few seconds, then that is potentially the cause.Related How to Choose the Best (and Fastest) Alternative DNS Server Resolved to use a faster service? Posts By Lori Kaufman If that isn't the issue, then there are a huge range of other filters you can apply to gain insight into what might be going wrong.
I don't use Wireshark every day—it is too powerful for most jobs—but when I do need it, it is invaluable.Portmaster To protect and manage your PC Windows 11 includes a built-in firewall, but it has several problems.The user interface is difficult to navigate Changing rules on a per-app basis is clunky It doesn't let you meaningfully monitor It doesn't give you an idea of app's access history Since I'm constantly downloading and testing new apps, I need to be able to keep an eye on which apps are accessing the internet, how much data they're transmitting, and other behaviors.
For that, I'd recommend a third-party app, Safing Portmaster.Portmaster is loaded with great features, certainly more than I use regularly.I primarily use it because it gives you a neat, detailed look at what applications are currently connected to the internet.
If you click on a specific app, you can see how long it has been connected to the web, check what servers it is connecting to, block its access to the internet, block its access to your LAN, and more.Any time I download a new app I don't fully trust, I start by using Portmaster to block it from accessing the internet.Then, after I've had a chance to do a bit of investigation, I'll let it out onto the internet and see what it does.
It is a bit more work, but well worth it if it stops me from accidentally allowing malware access to the internet.Subscribe to our newsletter for Windows networking tools Level up your Windows networking skills—subscribe to the newsletter to get deeper walkthroughs, practical troubleshooting techniques, curated tool recommendations, and configuration tips that help you monitor and secure your PC.Get Updates By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
You can unsubscribe anytime.If you pay for Portmaster Plus, you can also get a detailed view of how much bandwidth an application is using and a historical view of its activity.Portmaster Plus (which is the version that includes those features) runs around $50 per year.
There is also Portmaster Pro, which includes everything in the Plus plan and access to Safing Privacy Network (SPN), which is similar to a VPN service in many ways.That isn't a bad price if you'll make use of those features regularly, but most people will be just fine with the free version.It is still an enormous step-up compared to what you get by default on Windows.
Portmaster also automatically blocks addresses known to serve trackers or malware on your device, which is a welcome layer of security.Each of these three applications fills a different purpose, and between them, I rarely need any other tools.If you do need something more advanced, I'd recommend checking out ntopng.
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