We’ve come across so many handy tools over the years that we’ve been having trouble keeping track of them! So we’ve decided to pull them together into one spot for easy access.
New submissions are always welcome. Just drop us a note!
Networking Stuff
- Network Security
- Network Performance and Diagnosis
- Networking Links (including wiring)
- IEEE 802 series standards
Wireless Stuff [go here!]
Other Stuff
- Links
- Syslog, SNMP, ssh clients
- Dynamic IP and DNS
- Remote Control / File Sharing applications
- File Transfer Tools
Name | Description |
| Firewall Forensics (What am I seeing?) | If you’ve been using any sort of personal firewall or router that reports firewall activity, you may need help with interpreting what you see in the reports. Written by Robert Graham (CTO of Network ICE), he knows whereof he speaks! |
[Thanks to Alan Ridgeway for the tip!] If you’ve been wanting to check out Linux based security apps, but didn’t want to install Linux on a machine, trinux is for you. Trinux is a portable Linux distribution that boots from a single floppy disk, loads its packages from a FAT/Ext2 partition, floppy disks, or HTTP/FTP servers, and runs entirely in RAM. Trinux contains precompiled versions of popular Open Source network security/monitoring tools such as nmap, tcpdump, iptraf, and ntop. Trinux default configuration provides DHCP for easy network configuration. | |
| LeakTest | Another Steve Gibson (of ShieldsUp! fame) creation. Free, small (27K) Windows application that will check whether your personal firewall program (such as ZoneAlarm, BlackIce, etc.) is preventing unauthorized outbound Internet traffic. [NOTE: This program is not for use with Hardware NAT routers because they’re not intended to prevent outbound Internet traffic.] |
| Trojan list | List of Trojans with port numbers compiled by Joakim von Braun. List is sortable a number of ways. |
| Other security tools | More security tools you can use. |
Name | Description |
Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell run the Sysinternals web site which provides advanced utilities, technical information, and source code related to Windows 9x, Windows Me, and Windows NT/2000 internals that you won’t find anywhere else. Our favorites are:
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Ethereal is a free network protocol analyzer for Unix and Windows. It allows you to examine data from a live network or from a capture file on disk. You can interactively browse the capture data, viewing summary and detail information for each packet. Ethereal has several powerful features, including a rich display filter language and the ability to view the reconstructed stream of a TCP session. | |
Very nice and free network performance utility from netIQ. Tests include: Response Time, Throughput, Streaming, and Traceroute. |
Name | Description |
Other sites to help you share your LAN. | |
| Networking | Trying to get hooked up? Check these links. Includes links to sites on doing your own wiring. |
| Webhosting | Help for hosting your Web site. |
| Wireless | For your wireless networking needs. |
Name | Description |
Clients for secure logins and remote file transfers | |
If your router supports this logging mechanism, go here if you’re running Windows or MacOS. | |
Network mappers, trap watchers and more |
Name | Description |
Free little utility from TZO.com that tells you the WAN IP of the computer that it runs on. | |
Also from TZO. Tells you which common ports are available or in use. | |
| Dynamic DNS services | Needs to keep a domain name tied to a changing IP address? Check out this guide. |
Name | Description |
I’m InTouch allows you to remotely control your PC from any computer or wireless device with Internet access. Control your PC to run any program, transfer files, and respond to Outlook e-mail. You can also troubleshoot PCs, invite remote guests to your PC to show presentations or online demos, and monitor your child’s computer and Internet activities. | |
GoToMyPC allows you to remotely access your computer from any other Internet-connected computer in the world through a secure, private connection. Requires installing an application on the PC to be accessed. That PC can then be accessed via a web browser from anywhere, even behind NAT firewalls. Priced from $10 to $30 per month for individual plans. | |
VNC stands for Virtual Network Computing. It’s a FREE remote display system which allows you to view a computing ‘desktop’ environment not only on the machine where it is running, but from anywhere on the Internet and from a wide variety of machine architectures. (No file transfer capability, however.) | |
RA (Remote-Anything) allows you to use or supervise any distant PC via a network Much cheaper than pcAnywhere or Timbuktu at $49 for one Master and one Slave license. |