File Details |
|
| File Size | 1.1 MB |
|---|---|
| License | Shareware, $30.00 |
| Operating System | Windows 2000/9x/Server 2003/XP |
| Date Added | October 23, 2006 |
| Total Downloads | 2,646 |
| Publisher | DiamondCS |
| Homepage | Port Explorer |
Publisher's Description
Port Explorer is an advanced (yet easy-to-use) lightweight state-of-the-art socket analysis and exploration utility, designed for both novice and advanced users alike. Although still a relatively new program, it is quickly becoming accepted as the leading program of its class (port-to-process mapping), overcoming all of the problems associated with other port-to-process mappers. It also includes many powerful utilities including, packet sniffing, whois client, ping/trace, database lookup, statistics and resolve (with a world map).
Latest Reviews
Demonskill04 reviewed v2.100 on Oct 19, 2005
Is there any way you can concentrate a range of ports into one port?
httpd.confused reviewed v2.100 on Oct 6, 2005
Bugs I reported (and which were acknowledged) a year or so ago still exist. Pretty annoying.
And now I've loaded version 2.100 and found at least one new bug. That ought to be fixed in late 2006, at the earliest.
Port Explorer has a lot going for it, but one thing that sucks about it is its performance. When my system has lots of connections open, Port Explorer is unusably slow and burdensome (no matter how it is configured--don't think you're going to be cute and tell me to disable DNS resolving or something). I end up using the freeware CurrPorts instead under those circumstances.
Some other things that drive me nuts about it are simple-but-annoying things like the fact that when you double click on the right side of a column splitter, it doesn't auto-size the column to the left, as you would expect (if you have any clue how a decent interface should work).
And someone please tell me why F5 doesn't refresh the display unless the "Automatic Refresh" option is enabled? (And even then, it still only allows updates once per second.) Pretty stupid!
I hate the way the whole display flickers when it updates itself. What's up with that? Other utilities of this type that I've used and continue to use don't have that annoying effect (at least not to the same extent).
It's also lame that all the settings are controlled via menu options, rather than with an options dialog. This makes it a pain to review or change multiple settings at a time. I like settings menus, but not at the exclusion of settings dialogs, unless there are only a couple options to be set. That isn't the case here.
The worst problem I had with Port Explorer was that after installing it, I began having problems such as web pages that didn't load completely the first time, and needed to be refreshed to load properly. These problems disappeared when I removed Port Explorer 2.100.
CyberHobo reviewed v2.000 on Feb 23, 2005
If you want to know what is going on in terms of network connections and packet sniff a process or two, this is the tool! Been using it for two years without any major issues.
scodan reviewed v1.800 on Dec 31, 2003
I was skeptical when I first heard about and tried this utility, but it really won me over--and quickly. I had been using TamoSoft Essential NetTools, but Port Explorer crushes that thing (and every similarly utility I've used) like a grape. In its list of port-to-process mappings, Port Explorer colors hidden servers (i.e. processes that are listening on a port but which have no windows showing) in red by default, to help point out potential threats. System services are colored in blue by default. All of these things help when assessing the information displayed (particularly if you have a lot going on). But the feature that *really* won me over was "Socket Spy", which lets me look at inbound and outbound data on a by-process basis (for example, if I am testing a new browser, I can capture the data that it *alone* is sending and receiving, rather than having to sift through a huge log and *guess* what I'm looking at). I have tried other utilities with per-process packet sniffers, and they all sucked horribly. Port Explorer could use a few interface tweaks (a toolbar would be nice, I'd like the log window to remember column positions, etcetera), but overall this is an extremely strong product. Memory and CPU usage is beautifully low (much better than Essential NetTools). The price is reasonable at $30, the documentation is excellent, and the support is good as well. I'm normally no cheerleader for DiamondCS (not by a long shot), but Port Explorer hits the nail squarely on the head.
Demonskill04 reviewed v2.100 on Oct 19, 2005
Is there any way you can concentrate a range of ports into one port?
httpd.confused reviewed v2.100 on Oct 6, 2005
Bugs I reported (and which were acknowledged) a year or so ago still exist. Pretty annoying.
And now I've loaded version 2.100 and found at least one new bug. That ought to be fixed in late 2006, at the earliest.
Port Explorer has a lot going for it, but one thing that sucks about it is its performance. When my system has lots of connections open, Port Explorer is unusably slow and burdensome (no matter how it is configured--don't think you're going to be cute and tell me to disable DNS resolving or something). I end up using the freeware CurrPorts instead under those circumstances.
Some other things that drive me nuts about it are simple-but-annoying things like the fact that when you double click on the right side of a column splitter, it doesn't auto-size the column to the left, as you would expect (if you have any clue how a decent interface should work).
And someone please tell me why F5 doesn't refresh the display unless the "Automatic Refresh" option is enabled? (And even then, it still only allows updates once per second.) Pretty stupid!
I hate the way the whole display flickers when it updates itself. What's up with that? Other utilities of this type that I've used and continue to use don't have that annoying effect (at least not to the same extent).
It's also lame that all the settings are controlled via menu options, rather than with an options dialog. This makes it a pain to review or change multiple settings at a time. I like settings menus, but not at the exclusion of settings dialogs, unless there are only a couple options to be set. That isn't the case here.
The worst problem I had with Port Explorer was that after installing it, I began having problems such as web pages that didn't load completely the first time, and needed to be refreshed to load properly. These problems disappeared when I removed Port Explorer 2.100.
CyberHobo reviewed v2.000 on Feb 23, 2005
If you want to know what is going on in terms of network connections and packet sniff a process or two, this is the tool! Been using it for two years without any major issues.
scodan reviewed v1.800 on Dec 31, 2003
I was skeptical when I first heard about and tried this utility, but it really won me over--and quickly. I had been using TamoSoft Essential NetTools, but Port Explorer crushes that thing (and every similarly utility I've used) like a grape. In its list of port-to-process mappings, Port Explorer colors hidden servers (i.e. processes that are listening on a port but which have no windows showing) in red by default, to help point out potential threats. System services are colored in blue by default. All of these things help when assessing the information displayed (particularly if you have a lot going on). But the feature that *really* won me over was "Socket Spy", which lets me look at inbound and outbound data on a by-process basis (for example, if I am testing a new browser, I can capture the data that it *alone* is sending and receiving, rather than having to sift through a huge log and *guess* what I'm looking at). I have tried other utilities with per-process packet sniffers, and they all sucked horribly. Port Explorer could use a few interface tweaks (a toolbar would be nice, I'd like the log window to remember column positions, etcetera), but overall this is an extremely strong product. Memory and CPU usage is beautifully low (much better than Essential NetTools). The price is reasonable at $30, the documentation is excellent, and the support is good as well. I'm normally no cheerleader for DiamondCS (not by a long shot), but Port Explorer hits the nail squarely on the head.