Windows only: A good network scanner digs deep into any network it’s pointed at and opens it up for you to get into. SoftPerfect Network Scanner does those things, can do them from a thumb drive, and is a good deal less intimidating than some other scanner apps out there. The small program lays out its network findings in an easy-to-grasp manner, and can be expanded to show you more than just names and addresses. Weighing in at less than 1MB, it makes a great addition to any thumb drive, especially for anyone often called upon to figure out what’s up with the router. Check out some of SoftPerfect’s deeper options and offerings below.
Windows only: If you’re running a home network with more than one or two machines, free network tool Advanced IP Scanner might save you a good chunk of time hunting down IP addresses and remotely connecting. The small utility scans a range of internal IP addresses and reports the status, name, NetBIOS/workgroup name, and MAC address on what it finds. You can then remotely shutdown, wake up LAN-listening machines, telnet or FTP into a machine—anything you’d normally be able to do, just in shorter order. It’s probably overkill for those with one or two machines with static IP addresses, but Advanced IP Scanner is a pretty sweet tool for networking geeks. Advanced IP Scanner is a free download for Windows systems only. Thanks, brodiemac!
Advanced IP Scanner 1.5 (Free) [Radmin]
