Independent · hosts no files · not a vendor
The small tools that do the real work on a Windows LAN.
Range sweepers, SSH clients, file movers, subnet calculators and packet analysers — reviewed for admins at small and mid-size shops who need the job done before the end of the afternoon. Every link goes to the vendor’s own page.
- Angry IP ScannerSweep a range, see who answers, export to CSVNo cost on any number of machines
- LizardSystems Network ScannerList SMB, FTP and web shares and check who can write to themBusiness use: $79.95 per machine (perpetual)
- Advanced IP ScannerQuick LAN sweep with shares, RDP and remote shutdown one click awayNo cost; vendor lists it as free
- LizardSystems LanCalculatorWork out subnets, masks and host ranges before you touch a VLANBusiness use: $49.95 per machine (perpetual)
- Sysinternals SuiteSee what a Windows machine is actually doing: processes, sockets, autorunsNo cost
- WiresharkCapture and decode the traffic on your own segmentNo cost on any number of machines
Independent. NetPulse24 is not Famatech, LizardSystems, Microsoft or any other vendor. The reviews are ours; the trademarks are theirs.
Nothing hosted. No copies, no mirrors, no bundles. You get each tool from the organisation that makes it, and we show how to check the file.
Your network. Every how-to assumes a network you administer or have written permission to work on.
Job sheet
Pick by the job in front of you
Tasks that turn up on a normal week in a small IT team, and the tool on the board that fits each one.
- List every live host on a VLAN and hand the result to someone as a CSVAngry IP Scannerhow-to
- Find out which file-server shares are writable, and for which accountLizardSystems Network Scannerhow-to
- Sweep the office range, then RDP or shut down a machine from the result listAdvanced IP Scanner
- Carve a /24 into per-VLAN subnets before the switch config gets writtenLizardSystems LanCalculatorhow-to
- Get a console on a new switch over SSH or a USB-serial cablePuTTYhow-to
- Copy a firmware image to an appliance, or pull its logs back, over SFTPWinSCP
- Work out which process on a Windows server owns that open portSysinternals Suite
- Prove whether a printer is really sending DHCP requests or just sulkingWireshark
Drawers
Three drawers, one comparison each
How-tos
Step-by-step, with the commands
Each one starts from a concrete task and ends with a file, a config or a list you can keep.
- Audit which SMB shares on your LAN are writable, and by whomFind every SMB share on your own network, check which ones an ordinary user can write to, and confirm the result in PowerShell before you fix it.
- Sweep a VLAN and export the live hosts to CSV with Angry IP ScannerSweep one VLAN on your own network with Angry IP Scanner, keep only live hosts, and export a clean CSV from the GUI or a one-line command.
- Split a /24 into per-VLAN subnets without mistakesCarve one /24 into right-sized VLAN subnets largest-first, check every boundary with LanCalculator and a PowerShell script, then configure the gateways.
- Saved PuTTY sessions and SSH keys for your switches and routersBuild a sane PuTTY baseline, save one session per switch, move to key-based logins with PuTTYgen and Pageant, and back the lot up in one command.
Head to head
Two tools, one slot on the laptop
How we review
Research, not a lab we don’t have
Reviews are built from the vendor’s own documentation, licence terms, release notes and changelogs, public trials where they exist, and the problems admins report in forums and issue trackers once a tool has lived on their network for a while. We don’t invent benchmarks or claim hands-on results we can’t show. Where a price is quoted, it is the figure on the vendor’s pricing page at the time of writing.