Wireless Network Watcher
A Wireless network scanner
Windows XP, Windows Vista, Window 7, Windows 8
32bit and 64bit
260KB zip file — no installation needed
If you have a wireless network, have you ever wondered whether your neighbors were skimming their wireless from yours? It’s very possible if you don’t have your wireless network password protected. You do, of course, right?
Anyway with all the software bundles and so-so freeware out there, it’s refreshing to find such great, uncomplicated freeware, that’s just like it’s suppose to be. Our freeware pick, Wireless Network Watcher doesn’t even need to be installed to use it, just unzip and click the exe file and it runs. This utility is another great one from NirSoft — who we seem to be featuring today, but we promise it’s coincidental.
If you’ve ever wanted a simple program to see exactly what’s (or who is) connected to your wireless network, you won’t find anything simpler or better than our freeware pick, NirSoft’s Wireless Network Watcher.
Well, we’ve yammered on and on and on as much as we care to and as much as you can stand. Now it’s time for the proprietor of NirSoft to say his piece and get us moving along, eh? OK here he is:
“Wireless Network Watcher is a small utility that scans your wireless network and displays the list of all computers and devices that are currently connected to your network. For every computer or device that is connected to your network, the following information is displayed: IP address, MAC address, the company that manufactured the network card, and optionally the computer name. You can also export the connected devices list into html/xml/csv/text file, or copy the list to the clipboard and then paste into Excel or other spreadsheet application.
System Requirements And Limitations
This utility works on Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003/2008, Windows Vista, and Windows 7.
This utility can only scan a wireless network that you’re currently connected to. It cannot scan other wireless networks.
In rare cases, it’s possible that Wireless Network Watcher won’t detect the correct wireless network adapter, and then you should go to ‘Advanced Options’ window (F9), and manually choose the correct network adapter.
although this utility is officially designed for wireless networks, you can also use it to scan a small wired network.”
Note: We tested this program on Windows 8 64-bit and it worked well. We assume, therefore, it will work well with Windows 8 32-bit also.
Ok, find out what’s or who’s connected to your wireless network by downloading Wireless Network Watcher from NirSoft — it’s good freeware — no bundlers, no tricks, no razzle-dazzle. Go on, get it right now from http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/wireless_network_watcher.html
Will this work for a Broadband connection as well???
As stated on the NirSoft site it will work for broadband connections — at least most.
Not sure whether or not this will work with a Broadband connection. Please advise if it will or not.
The promised program did not download. Instead, something called Utility Toolbar downloaded. It has nothing to do with the network device identifier you described.
Sarah, we provided you a download link in the newsletter and specifically told you to use the link in the newsletter. We did that because, like on so many pages, the real download link is obfuscated by links that look like download links but download other programs — usually malware. We can only do so much to protect our readers.
The download link we provided was correct. Obviously you saw that we had downloaded it and tested it.
The program does not install anything. We are not sure what link you’re clicking to download, but if you got a utility toolbar, it wasn’t the correct one. This is what we are constantly reminding people of — be vigilant. More often than not, sites offering downloads for freeware will often have links that look like download links for the program you want, but are not, they are downloads for other things – many times malware or adware.
Hi I just about did the same thing– but I remembered that TC and EB told us about the very obvious Download ‘thingamies’ (in brilliant green)and then I reread it and the link was just above this wretched download sign. It took me right to the place I was looking for. It will be very helpful if there is a need for it. It was pretty tricky — as it was close to the BIG Green “THINGAME”
I forgot to mention that I did not have any unneeded invaders.
It worked like a charm.
Wow! Perfect timing for me with this one! I thought I had uninstalled a printer I had running on my wi-fi. I have very limited bandwidth per month so I installed the software to run the printer from my usb port..I thought…thanks to you pointing me to this great little site, I found out the printer was still running off of my wi-fi instead of my usb port for some reason. I totally uninstalled all my printer software and re-installed it, and then checked with Network Watcher, and voila! My wallet will be a little lighter next month! thanks so much for this one you two!