WhoIsConnectedSniffer is another network tool, by NirSoft, that listens to network packets that go through your selected network adapter and compiles a list of computer or network devices that currently connect to your network. It uses a capture driver, either WinpCap or MS Network Monitor, to detect computers that connect to your network through a variety of network protocols, including ARP, UDP, DHCP, mDNS, and Browser.
Unlike other network scanning or discovery tool, WhoIsConnectedSniffer is doing totally opposite. It doesn’t perform any scanning job and doesn’t sent out any network packets. Instead, when it’s running, it keeps listening to the packets that come along by other computers and network devices on the same network, analyzes them and then display the result in the program, with information like:
- IP Address
- Mac Address
- Name of the device
- Description
- Operating System
- Network Adapter Company
- First/Last detected date and time
- Detection Count
- Detected Protocols
- IPv6 Address, if available.
Just like other NirSoft tool, it’s portable, and completely free. You can simply download the tool from its website and run it. It works on any version of Windows, from Windows 2000, all the way up to Windows 8.1. Both 32-bit and 64-bit editions are supported. The only requirement is that you have to have one of the capture drivers installed, either WinPcap Capture driver or Network Monitor driver.