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Securing your computing environment
does not stop at user rights and permissions, anti-virus, firewalls
or switches. There are a whole range of great products out
there to protect your infrastructure.
This list points out FREE tools
available for you, creating a more secure and reliable Windows
networked environment. Please let us know if there is
something deserved mentioning in this list.
We take no responsibilities for using
this software.
Ethereal is a free network sniffer. It allows you to examine
data from a live network or from a capture file on disk for further
analysis. You can interactively browse the capture data, viewing
summary and detail information for each packet.
Ettercap is a
multipurpose sniffer/interceptor/logger for switched LANs.
It supports active and passive dissection of many protocols (even
ciphered ones) and includes many features for network and host
analysis.
Netstumbler is the best known Windows tool for finding open
wireless access points. More advanced users may want to try
Kismet (below).
Kismet is an 802.11
layer2 wireless network detector, sniffer, and intrusion detection
system. Kismet will work with any wireless card which supports raw
monitoring (rfmon) mode, and can sniff 802.11b, 802.11a, and 802.11g
traffic.
Nmap ("Network Mapper")
is a free utility for network exploration or security auditing.
It was designed for large scale networks, but works fine against
single hosts. Nmap uses raw IP packets to determine what hosts
are available on the network, what services they are running, what
OS and version, packet filters/firewalls in use, etc.
Although geared more for advanced
users, we can't skip on mentioning
Nessus.
Another tool worth mentioning is the
Microsoft Baseline Security
Analyzer (MBSA). This free Microsoft product can
scan your network or individual workstation for security misconfigurations
and security vulnerabilities.
Insecure.org offers
the Top 75 Security Tools List. Make sure to check this one
out.
Goldenseal
Studios has an excellent collection of FREE network tools here!
The
Sysinternals web site
provides you with advanced utilities, technical information, and
source code related to Windows 9x, Windows Me, and Windows
NT/2000/XP/2K3 internals that you won't find anywhere else.
Make sure not to miss
The Quintessential
Network Tools Page's collection!
There is a nice
collection of FREE Network Management Tools from
SolarWinds here!
Foundstone.com has a nice collection of FREE Network Security
Tools available!
And we will close
for now with a collection of
Web-Based Network
Tools...
Anti-Virus: Sometimes, nothing can be more devastating on your computer than a
virus. We define viruses as anything that causes undesirable
operations on a PC.
Stinger is a stand-alone utility used to detect and remove specific
viruses. It is not a substitute for full anti-virus protection,
but rather a tool to assist administrators and users when dealing
with an infected system.
Spyware/Adware/Junkware,
etc. are usually never detected by anti-virus or security scans
as technically, you have allowed this software to be installed on
your computer. Other times it is without your consent, from
malicious scripts on web pages, etc. This violates not only
your privacy, but also slows down your system. Spybot
is the best free program out there for your protection!
Firewalls
are designed to protect your PC from hackers. Hardware the best,
but software can still control the door to your computer and allow
only traffic that you understand and initiate. Application
control allows you to decide which applications can and cannot use
the Internet. Download
FREE Firewall Software Here!
Popup Blockers. Removing spyware will cut down on this, but our favorite FREE
program is the google(tm) toolbar that not only blocks the unwanted
pop-ups, but also makes easy searches!
Download the FREE Google Toolbar from Here!
DVD
Backup.
DVD Shrink is software to
backup DVD discs. You
can use this software in conjunction with DVD burning software of
your choice, to make a backup copy of any DVD video disc. DVD
Shrink will also burn your backup DVD, if you have installed the
latest version of Nero. You can download a demo version of Nero
here.
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