CurrPorts displays the list of all currently opened TCP/IP and UDP ports on your local computer. For each port in the list, information about the process that opened the port is also displayed, including the process name, full path of the process, version information of the process (product name, file description, and so on), the time that the process was created, and the user that created it.

In addition, CurrPorts allows you to close unwanted TCP connections, kill the process that opened the ports, and save the TCP/UDP ports information to HTML file , XML file, or to tab-delimited text file. CurrPorts also automatically mark with pink color suspicious TCP/UDP ports owned by unidentified applications (Applications without version information and icons).

Download CurrPorts 1.51 in Softonic

Whenever someone needs my help with their computer I usually connect with them through a screen sharing software such as CrossLoop.

However, this can be a very bandwidth-heavy way of doing it. Plus, of course, the recipient needs to have the software installed. That's why UltraVNC is a useful alternative - an easy-to-use, fast and free software that can display the screen of another computer on your own screen. The difference between UltraVNC and other screen sharers is quite simply the lightness and speed of it.

Of course, the recipient needs to have UltraVNC installed but once they have, you have a whole host of options open to you including file transfers, a viewing toolbar, scaling options and even text chat. However, what impresses most about UltraVNC is the speed, Where some screen sharing programs severely lag behind because of bandwidth issues, UltraVNC is lightening fast at connecting and sharing.

As an alternative solution to most bloated screen sharing software, you'll appreciate the lightness and speed of UltraVNC.

Download UltraVNC 1.0.5 in Softonic

Establishing the amount of connections made to your computer is one way to find out whether your PC is being hacked into or use as a bot.

Whenever you open a website or establish any kind of connection with an outside entity, you open up what's known as a TCP/UDP connection. But getting a list of all the TCP/UDP connections on your computer is not always easy, especially when some of them may have been connected remotely without your knowledge.

NetStat Agent offers a comprehensive way to monitor all incoming and outgoing connections to and from your PC. NetStat Agent offers a range of tools including NetStat, Ping, Traceroute, IPconfig, ARP and Whois in a user-friendly graphical interface.

It's an excellent tool for anyone that's involved in network administration or those that may suspect their browser has been hijacked. While many of the connections will appear a little mysterious, you can easily see which ones relate to internet, networks and those that are erroneous or unrecognized and could be suspicious.

NetStat agent features a whole host of tools to do a pretty simply job - find out who is connected to your PC. For network administrators, it's a very useful resource.

Download NetStat Agent 2.0 in Softonic

If you've never had a media streaming server before, Subsonic is probably an excellent choice to take your first steps.

This application includes just about anything you need to turn your home computer into a fully-featured media streaming server. You may still need to install some missing codecs but in general terms, starting Subsonic is just a question of launching the Windows service and opening your web browser.

As an admin user, you'll be able to configure every single detail about your server, such as folders to be included in the media menu, user accounts and security settings, to name a few. As a common user, you have also plenty of features available, from downloading music files to rating songs - all depending on the permissions given by the admin. The whole procedure is done via web, while the streamed media can be played with an array of media players including Winamp, Windows Media Player and iTunes. You can even make Last.fm register what you're listening to in Subsonic.

On the downside, and despite the simplicity of the program, I still had some problems to perform certain tasks especially in playlist management. Even worse, I couldn't find any help about it.

With a tool like Subsonic - and some spare time to configure it properly - you'll be able to turn your standard home PC into a professional media streaming server.

Download Subsonic 3.4 in Softonic

Angry IP scanner is a very fast IP scanner for Windows. It can scan IPs in any range. Its binary file size is very small compared to other IP scanners. Angry IP scanner simply pings each IP address to check if it's alive, then optionally it can resolve hostname, scan ports, etc. This program is mostly useful for network administrators to monitor and manage their networks.

It also has additional features, like NetBIOS information (computer name, workgroup name, currently logged in user and MAC address), results saving to CSV, TXT, HTML, XML or IP-Port list file, can be used as a command-line utility in a batch file, etc. With help of plugins, Angry IP Scanner can gather any information about scanned IPs. Anybody who can write code is able to write plugins and extend functionality of Angry IP Scanner. It is using separate threads for each scanned address to increase scanning speed.

Download Angry IP Scanner 3.0 Beta in Softonic

If you constantly use your laptop or PC between several different internet connections, then you’re probably tired of having to constantly configure them. Entering proxies, static IP addresses and other LAN configuration data can be really annoying if you have to switch quickly or regularly. NetSetMan takes the pain out of this by allowing you to rapidly change between pre-configured network settings.

The free version of this program (for non-commercial use only) allows you to create 6 profiles – more than enough for most users - including IP address settings, Subnet Masks, Default Gateways and DNS servers. These settings are then saved as tabs which you can flick between and activate according to the connection you are using. Other settings you can configure are the Computer Name, WINS Server, Default Printer and Run Scripts.

The good thing about this program is that it’s very easy to set up a connection. As long as you have the details to hand, you can set-up 6 different connections in just a few minutes. The entry fields are also easier to input data into than Windows ‘Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties’ dialogue, which for some strange reason, tends to add extra zeros. You can also backup all of your connections settings in a separate file which you can then send via e-mail to another person who has NetSetMan installed.

The downside is that the interface is not very clearly designed. For example, if you want to do the simple task of renaming a configuration, you might end up spending more time looking for an ‘edit’ option than configuring the connection itself! In the end, all you have to do is right-click on the name and choose ‘re-name’ but it would have been easier if the developer had added such an option to the interface itself. In addition, you can’t configure SMTP or Firewall settings so in reality, it only saves you half the job of configuring a connection.

Nevertheless, NetSetMan is an essential tool if you do have to change connections from office to home or on the road regularly. It today’s increasingly mobile world, this sort of tool should come as standard with Windows.

Download NetSetMan 2.5.0 in Softonic

The Dude network monitor is a new application by MikroTik which can dramatically improve the way you manage your network environment.

It automatically scans devices within specified subnets, draw and layout a map of your networks, monitor services of your devices and alert you in case some service has problems.

If you are a network administrator, you'll find this program particularly useful to diagnose problems in an instant.

Download The Dude 3.0 RC2 in Softonic

SoftPerfect Network Scanner is a free multi-threaded IP, NetBIOS and SNMP scanner with a modern interface and several advanced features. It is intended for both system administrators and users who are interested in computer security. The program pings computers, scans for listening TCP ports and shows what types of resources are shared on a network (including system and hidden).

In addition, it allows you to mount shared resources as network drives, browse them using Windows Explorer, filter the results list and more. SoftPerfect Network Scanner can also check for a user-defined port and report if it is found open, resolve host names and auto-detect your local IP range.

Download SoftPerfect Network Scanner 3.8.117 in Softonic

WiPeer enables sharing files directly among computers, playing multi-player games, chatting, and collaboration over both Wi-Fi and home/office networks. These networks are not centralized on a single computer and do not need Internet access.

The only thing you need to enter the network is a username. Then you can start sharing files, chatting or even playing chess, reversi, connect four and checkers. Chat rooms may be public or private, as well as file sharing, which can be done individually or with more than one user simultaneously. Network users can have their own personal profiles including data such as name, location, language, age, sex, etc.

Download WiPeer 0.72 in Softonic

Alchemy Eye is a network monitor that continuously monitors network server availability and performance. In the event of network errors, Alchemy Eye can alert the network administrator by cell phone or pager BEFORE problems get seriously out of hand.

This helps protect your company's data and reduces the likelihood of costly network failures. If a server goes down, Alchemy Eye automatically notifies the network administrator and writes a detailed log file.

Download Alchemy Eye 9.4 in Softonic

ShareAlarmPro is a network tool that allows network administrators and users easily perform shared folders and resources monitoring. Using ShareAlarmPro you can monitor users attempting to access secured shares and confidential files, detect and log network access to shared folders, monitor security events and create alerts for specific events occurring on your computer, monitor open files, disconnect users from open files or deny network users access and send console messages.

ShareAlarmPro detects and notifies about remote connections to shared folders and resources, allows you to see parameters of the workstation, which tries to establish a connection with your computer. The remote workstation user and OS, permissions and path of the accessed folder, connection time will be available via this tool. ShareAlarmPro, optionally, will notify user on every new connection detection by playing any user selected audio file.

ShareAlarmPro includes an intrusion detection system based on security events log analyzer. Security Event Log Monitor monitors the security event logs of Windows servers or workstations and depending on configuration will notify user on selected events detection by showing a small popup window with event details. ShareAlarmPro also allows you to easily browse your LAN and view all shared resources whether they are hidden or not and connections to shared resources on remote workstations.

The program has a firewall system that allows you to block any unwanted connection to your shared resources. ShareAlarmPro keeps log for all detected events (access to shared folders, security events) in HTML format. This software also provide you ability to manage and monitor all shares on your workstation, disable or enable default administrative shares, hide your workstation in network, view how many users are currently connected to each shared resource on your workstation.

Download ShareAlarmPro 2.0.6 in Softonic

IP Sniffer is a suite of IP Tools built around a packet sniffer. The packet sniffer can work on all Windows versions using either the new raw socket implementation of Windows2000 (driverless) or WinPcap (needs to be installed) or a NDIS protocol (needs to be installed, no reboot). The sniffer has basic features like filter, decode, replay, parse.

Download IP Sniffer 1.97 in Softonic

If you're a network administrator then accessing a network remotely is one of the most important aspects of your job.

Networks can crash or run into trouble at any time of the day or year and being able to access it remotely from wherever you are is essential. LogMeIn IT Reach allows you to centrally and securely support and manage remote PCs over the web. The program consists of a comprehensive IT toolkit and powerful remote access tool that can penetrate even the most secure firewalls.

The installation and deployment of LogMeIn IT Reach is one of it's big strong points. Rather than having to install software on separate PC's, it merely requires you to send an e-mail to all network users who simply click the link and follow on-screen steps to install the software which shouldn't take more than a few minutes. If you don't trust your users to do so, you can always do it manually yourself. After that, everything is administered through an easy to use web interface.

When logged in, you'll automatically see a list of all your computers and their status: online or offline. Simply select the computer you want to access, enter its Windows authentication credentials, and you'll be connected to it. From this moment on, the PC is constantly monitored for issues discreetly in the background with full detailed readings of system performance.

With master administrator and secondary administrator settings on top of this, LogMeIn IT Reach is one of the easiest network admin tools you'll find although it's only advisable for small networks.

Download LogMeIn IT Reach in Softonic

Analysing data packets is one way to monitor for problems in your network traffic or to detect connection problems.

Wireshark is a professional protocol analyser aimed to help users in troubleshooting, analysis, software and protocol development, and education. All of the standard features you expect to find in a protocol analyzer are here but it's also got a few added extras because it's open source and has been enhanced by it's community of users. The contribution of global networking consultants across the globe are what make Wireshark a particularly powerful analyser.

If you don't have any network analysing knowledge then you will find yourself a bit lost however. The program does have an extensive manual and forum but unless you are familiar with protocol analysis, they won't mean much to you. For those that are in the know, the program features deep inspection of hundreds of protocols, live capture and offline analysis and even VoIP analysis. Any captured network data can be browsed via an easy to use GUI or alternatively via the TTY-mode TShark utility. In addition, live data can be read from Ethernet, IEEE 802.11, PPP/HDLC, ATM, Bluetooth, USB, Token Ring, Frame Relay, FDDI, and others (depending on your platform).

This is a highly specialised tool that the average user won't find much use for but for any network administrators out there, it's an essential addition to your toolkit.

Download Wireshark 1.0.2 in Softonic

If you're not satisfied with the Bluetooth detector on your PC then try BluetoothView which simplifies connecting to Bluetooth devices.

BluetoothView is a small utility that runs in the background and monitors the activity of Bluetooth devices around you. For each detected Bluetooth device, it displays the Device Name, Bluetooth Address, Major Device Type, Minor Device Type, First Detection Time, Last Detection Time and other minor details. The program works very discreetly and only notifies you in the taskbar with a popup when it has discovered a new device. However, if you don't want the balloon in your taskbar, you can always instruct it to use a beep sound instead. To be honest, unless your bluetooth detector on your PC is really poor you don't really need this utility but then again, if you constantly work between Bluetooth devices, then you'll find it a much better way to find and connect than manually searching for them.

If you're a heavy Bluetooth user, then you'll find that BluetoothView makes life easier in finding the devices you need to connect to.

Download BluetoothView 1.06 in Softonic

If you're away from home and you don't have a laptop, it doesn't mean that you have to be away from your PC.

If you've ever needed to remotely control or monitor your PC from a distance then you can with SpyAnywhere! Contrary to what the name suggests, it's got nothing to do with James Bond, espionage or spyware. It basically allows you to remotely monitor and control PC via your web-browser. You can view system activity and user actions on your PC in real time and even shutdown and restart, freeze and browse files on your hard drive.

This obviously opens up many questions about security - if this software is installed on your PC, then who is to say that anyone can't just access it. The program gets round this problem by restricting the IP addresses that can access the remote computer. Therefore, you'll have to know the IP address of the computer you are going to be accessing it from which can be tricky if you're constantly on the move. However, it does also employ the use of a secure password protected login everytime you try to access it meaning that if you're willing to switch off IP restriction, you can access the PC from any location as long as you know the password.

If you're on the move and either want peace of mind or need to view activity on your PC, SpyAnywhere can help keep you in touch.

Download Spytech SpyAnywhere 4.0 in Softonic

ScreenViewer is used for remote computer screen monitoring. It captures a remote screenshot whenever you want to view remote screen. It can also save the screenshot as a JPEG file.

The software can be used for the following situations:

• Monitor your computer from a remote location
• Parents can monitor what their children are doing
• Employer can monitor what his employees are doing

It consists of two parts: server and client. The server is installed on the remote computer and will remain invisible. The client is installed in your computer, from which you can watch the screen of the server. The client supports multi-servers and you can watch multi-screens at the same time!

Download ScreenViewer 1.9.1 in Softonic

If you're managing a major network and need some serious analysing power, then Colasoft Capsa professional network analyser packs an impressive punch.

Designed to provide 24/7 monitoring, in-depth protocol analyzing and packet decoding, it gives you more than enough power to diagnose the most serious of network problems. It goes without saying then that novices or those managing their first network should think twice before attempting to use this program as it takes more than a little fathoming. That said, the developers claim it's suitable for office managers wanting to oversee their office network so it hasn't been designed with experts solely in mind. Once configured, which is the tricky part, it does do a lot of the hard work for you. It constantly monitors your network to look for unusual activity and analyses data packets for malicious or potential problematic issues. The program employs a "safeguard" network which is specifically focused on security issues so anything your firewall is not dealing with, you should be able to pinpoint with it.

The overall aim of the program is to reduce the amount of network downtime, security threats and data bottlenecks that your organisation is victim to. Whilst some of these issues will be out of your hands, Collasoft Capsa gives you a remarkable amount of network analysis power in one package.

Download Colasoft Capsa Professional Edition 6.7 Build 1130 in Softonic

Manage PC also lets you take control of PCs through familiar interfaces. Use remote desktop, VNC, reboot, start/stop services, uninstall software and more directly from the ManagePC interface.

The program has actually been around in various forms since 2005. It began life simply as an .HTA script but development moved to the .NET framework in 2006 which vastly improved it's usability and opened it up to a wider audience. In late 2006 ManagePC was made available to all users without Active Directory. ManagePC allows you to make an inventory of all aspects of machines that belong to the same domain. With ManagePC, you can see at a glance the hardware available in each machine, operational services, software installed, running processes and also manage users and groups on your network. It goes much further than that though as the program can be accessed remotely via a Remote Desktop or VNC which means that you can also reboot, uninstall programs and stop services at any time.

For network administrators or just someone that wants total control over their PC, ManagePC packs a powerful punch.

Download ManagePC 2.5.0.13 in Softonic

Mobile Net Switch is an award-winning program for Windows XP and Windows Vista that enables you to use your computer on more than one network with the click of a button. Mobile Net Switch allows you to automatically select the correct drive mappings, printer settings, IP settings, WiFi settings and much more.

The powerful easy to use interface allows you to configure your computer for every network you will be connecting to (Workgroup or Domain). It's the perfect solution for everyone with a mobile computer who is using it on more than one network (e.g. when you are using your machine on multiple locations, offices or at home).

Each location is stored in a profile. Simply select a profile and your drives will be mapped correctly, the correct default printer will be selected, IP Addresses will be set correctly, the correct Proxy Server will be configured, and much more. You will be able to use your machine on any network with ease!

Download Mobile Net Switch 3.68 in Softonic