Need More Info About Your Network?

Probably most people who have access to a computer connected to the Internet know how to use the ping command in order to check if their connection is alive or not, but don't have any advanced stuff about networking and Internet. For a long time, I was one of them and I am still struggling to reach the next level, and programs like X-NetStat or the Unix manuals helped me a lot in this quest.

Since I am not doing reviews for the excellent documentation that can be found in most Unix-based operating systems, it should be obvious that we're going to see a network information tool in action here and now, and my choice is called MegaPing.

MegaPing reached version 4.6 four months ago, so I think it can still be called "a fresh program", but what makes it interesting is not its interface, but the features offered. What I have here is the demo version, with an installation kit that weighs 4.2MB. The setup process is as easy as 1-2-3, so next we have to check the program's interface and available features.

MegaPing's interface is extremely easy to use, but to me looks a bit outdated. I think that, considering the fact that this is a commercial product, they could pay more attention to the look of their program's interface, especially the icons. Anyway, what we have is a menubar, a toolbar and a tool pane that surround the main work area, nothing more.

This easy to use interface that I told you about houses no less than sixteen powerful tools for getting all the info needed about your network or remote locations. Let's have a quick race through all these locations, shall we?

First two tools handle domain name servers-related tasks, performing queries in order to obtain information about all hosts and those specified that can be found in their domains.

Third tool tries to get information about a certain user's account that is registered on a server, if the remote host is running a Finger server and grants access from outside.

The next two tools, the IP and NetBIOS scanners can be used to determine active remote hosts, the first one, and NetBIOS table names and MAC addresses the second one.

The Network Time synchronizer can be used to synchronize your local computer's clock with a remote time server. This can be done easily inside Windows too, but you have only two time servers available, while MegaPing offers you over twenty of them.

Ping and Traceroute are two well-known commands that appeared first inside Unix, and the first one is also available on Windows operating systems. These tools can be used to check if a remote server is alive and for viewing the route an IP packet follows to the specified host.

I'll leave the next four tools for the end, because now I want to grab the three remaining scanners from MegaPing and get rid of them. The reason is that they have the same basic function, to give all details that you can get about their subject. Shares available on your network, opened ports and vulnerable network resources can be easily found using the Port, Share and Security scanners.

Last tool in the list is the Host Monitor, an excellent way to track your website's uptime and get a detailed log about its status. Apart from that, you can get alerts about status changes on your computer, but also on your email. As an idea, you can use a workstation with MegaPing for this monitoring purpose and get results wherever you are, the only condition being to have access to your email.

Now let's get back to what I missed, the four remaining tools. WHOIS became a standard for looking up domains, people and other resources related to domains and their registration in the early 1980s, and this is what WHOIS queries still do.

MegaPing's command that has the same name can be used to retrieve information about a specific domain, such as name, address and additional contact information of the registrant.

The Network Resources, Process and System Info are the last three tools that I should talk about now, but their names say it all, and I invite you to check them out, since using them is more like a child's play than a serious task.

This is it for today; I hope you'll enjoy this demo program as much as I did, because it can be quite useful for everybody.

The Good

MegaPing is a program extremely useful and very easy to use, and I must say that it was a pleasure to review it.

The Bad

Sometimes, I found my processor being completely eaten up by this program, but since that happened with most applications of this kind, it's not something new. Other two bad things about this program are its relatively high price and that horrible About screen (if you don't agree, then try to read the "Warning" text located in its lower area!). At last, it would have been nice to find out more details from the help file, which is very small and contains basic information only.

The Truth

MegaPing is another of those "must try" programs, and I hope that its excellent features made that decision for you already. If you decide to buy it, I can only wish you to get useful and positive information with it. Good luck!


Here are some snapshots of the application in action: