Skip to main content

4 free wireless network scanners

If you are out with your laptop or smartphone and need to find an Internet connection, the first thing you will require is a good Wi-Fi scanner. Checkout these 4 free options you’ve got.

1. NetStumbler is one of oldest wireless scanner for Windows. It runs on Windows 2000 and Windows XP 32 bit. The 64 bit version of Windows XP has trouble running this tool and it refuses to run on Windows Vista or 7. NetStumbler can help you locate wireless networks in your neighborhood and also detect unauthorized access points.

Netstumbler

The program is commonly used for:

  • Wardriving
  • Verifying network configurations
  • Finding locations with poor coverage in a WLAN
  • Detecting causes of wireless interference
  • Detecting unauthorized ("rogue") access points
  • Aiming directional antennas for long-haul WLAN links

NetStumbler was last released in April 2004, and since then no new releases has been seen which is one reason why this tool does not work in Windows Vista. This project is literally dead.

If you would still like to use NetStumbler, then use it with Earth Stumbler that can take the GPS-tagged Netstumbler information and map it on Google Earth.

2. outSSIDer is a free Windows software that scans your neighborhood for open, unencrypted WiFi networks so that you can surf for free. Whenever it finds one it alerts you and then tries to connect to it automatically. All you have to do is run outSSIDer, close the laptop lid and start walking around the streets.

outsider-stop

When it detects an unencrypted wireless connection it alerts you with a sound. As the signal gets better you get a repeated ding-ding-ding sound, which means that you should stop and wait to allow the program to connect to the network. Once it successfully connects to the network you get a different tone notifying you of the success. This tool was reviewed earlier this month.

3. Vistumbler is an open source Wi-Fi scanner for Windows Vista and Windows 7. Vistumbler uses the Vista command 'netsh wlan show networks mode=bssid' to get wireless information, and then maps the Wi-Fi hotspots found into a map.

vistumbler

Features:

  • GPS Support
  • Export/Import access points from Vistumbler or Netstumbler
  • Export access point GPS locations to a Google Earth kml file or GPX
  • Live Google Earth Tracking
  • Speaks Signal Strength using sound files

4. inSSIDer is another open source wireless network scanner for Windows XP and Windows Vista that uses Windows Native WiFi API to get wireless information. inSSIDer helps find Wi-Fi access points and track the strength of received signal over time, highlighting the access points with higher Wi-Fi concentration. It allows exporting of Wi-Fi and GPS data to a KML file for viewing in Google Earth.

inSSIDer

Comments

  1. Won't work?? Says it requires the WLAN Auto Configure Service - where and what is that?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How to Record CPU and Memory Usage Over Time in Windows?

Whenever the computer is lagging or some application is taking too long to respond, we usually fire up task manager and look under the Performance tab or under Processes to check on processor utilization or the amount of free memory available. The task manager is ideal for real-time analysis of CPU and memory utilization. It even displays a short history of CPU utilization in the form of a graph. You get a small time-window, about 30 seconds or so, depending on how large the viewing area is.

How to Schedule Changes to Your Facebook Page Cover Photo

Facebook’s current layout, the so called Timeline, features a prominent, large cover photo that some people are using in a lot of different creative ways. Timeline is also available for Facebook Pages that people can use to promote their website or business or event. Although you can change the cover photo as often as you like, it’s meant to be static – something which you design and leave it for at least a few weeks or months like a redesigned website. However, there are times when you may want to change the cover photo frequently and periodically to match event dates or some special promotion that you are running or plan to run. So, here is how you can do that.

Diagram 101: Different Types of Diagrams and When To Use Them

Diagrams are a great way to visualize information and convey meaning. The problem is that there’s too many different types of diagrams, so it can be hard to know which ones you should use in any given situation. To help you out, we’ve created this diagram that lays out the 7 most common types of diagrams and when they’re best used: