Learn about Network Monitor (netmon) 3.3

In this article we will show you the latest version of Network Monitor (version 3.3), support issues for Windows 7 and Network Experts features.

Introduce

If you follow the readings on this website, you've probably read the series we introduced about Network Monitor. However, the Network Monitor version is now upgraded (released 3.3) with lots of useful features that you probably don't know about. Therefore, in this article we will mention the following:

With that content, let's first answer some basic questions about netmon first.

The nature of Network Monitor 3.3

Here are 5 essential questions and answers about Network Monitor:

1. What is Network Monitor?

According to the official definition of Microsoft, Network Monitor is:

' A tool used for observing network packets sent and received over a network connection or from a previously captured data file. In addition, the tool provides complex network data filtering options . '

In other words, Network Monitor is a protocol analyzer (protocol analyzer) or 'packet sniffer'.

2. How can Network Monitor help you?

It sounds interesting, but actually how can Network Monitor help you? Here the Network Monitor protocol analyzers can answer for you:

Overall, it will give you insight into your network unlike other solutions!

3. What is the cost of Network Monitor?

Unlike many other protocol analyzers (costing hundreds of thousands of dollars), Microsoft's Network Monitor product is completely free.

4. Where can you find Network Monitor?

You can download the latest version (3.3) of Network Monitor from the Microsoft Download Center - Network Monitor 3.3.

5. Which operating system is Netmon compatible with?

One of Network Monitor 3.3's new features is that it is compatible with Windows 7. However, it can also be compatible with Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 Itanium version, Windows Server 2008, Windows Vista ( 32 and 64 bit) and Windows XP (32 and 64 bit).

What's new in Network Monitor version 3.3?

Here are the new features in Network Monitor 3.3:

Figure 1: Attaching a Frame Comment

Figure 2: Autoscroll's working process

For individuals, the best new feature is support for Windows 7, Autoscroll and Experts.

What is Experts and how do you use them?

The Experts feature of netmon 3.3 is an important feature. We have seen this feature before in thousands of dollars of data analyzers, so it is fortunate for us to get this feature from Microsoft's free data analyzer. Basically, Experts acts as a deep-rooted network administrator who can analyze the data and as assistants in speeding up data for you.

In other words, Experts will save you considerable time and give you answers to tough problems.

There are no Experts in netmon 3.3 that you need to download these tools from the Internet (completely free). To use experts, you must save the captured files, then reopen them. Note Experts will not work on 'live' data.

You can download Experts here.

Once you've done the capture, close, and reopen files, you can access Experts. You can access experts in two ways:

Figure 3: How to use and check certain frames

Expert shown here ( Top Users by Conversation ) is the Expert that we downloaded and installed.

Be aware that Experts are small programs that you install, just like any other application.

Here are the results of Top Users by Conversation Expert that we downloaded and installed:

These results can be classified by clicking on the headers. If you install the appropriate add-ins, you can create the results as graphs.

Currently Network Monitor Team has announced 2 Experts for users to download and make sure this number will be increased. Here are two Experts currently being offered:

If you don't see the Expert you are looking for, you can download the SDK and write your own expert!

Conclude

Network Monitor 3.3 has a lot of useful features such as support for Windows 7 and the built-in Experts feature. This is indeed a blessing for us as Microsoft continues to improve this effective network protocol analyzer.