14 DAY TRIAL // Getting to know who owns what website used to be quite an adventure a while back. But those days are long gone and now, if you want to know who owns a website, all you have to do is search a whois server for details about the domain name. Most of the times, the online service is absolutely free and there are also some downloadable tools that can be used for this purpose only.
I guess I don't have to say that the purpose of the information serves to more than one purpose as it can help you identify the owner of a domain, and, if you are interested, initiate contact for whatever reason you have. Also, in some cases, all these details are confidential and there is no need to say that only public information will be available to you.
WhoisThisDomain from the now famous NirSoft freeware developer is one tool that can save you the trouble of opening a web browser and looking for a whois service that can retrieve the desired details about a domain. As all other programs from this developer, this too is a freeware and can be easily handled by any user, regardless of the skill level.
The interface is simple enough not to pose any kind of trouble and, if you add the help file, then there will really be no hard time while working with the application. First of all WhoisThisDomain needs no installation and is perfectly portable as all the settings are saved into its folder. Once the executable is launched, you can insert as many domains as you want to be checked in Choose Domains window. Instructions on the operation are provided within the interface, so there's no worry as to how to type them in.
A very interesting and useful feature of the software allows you the building of a domain list, which can reduce the time of digging up the generic top-level domains (gTLD, e.g. .com, .net, .org) of the same name. Building a domain list is extremely simple and fast because you only have to type the domain once and then make available the gTLDs you have interest in. The software automatically cross the gTLD and the name you provided and build a list with all domain names.
The feature is specially useful when looking up information on multiple domains at once. Thus you can have the details on softpedia.com/.net/.org and another name all at once, with a simple click of a button. During our testing, information retrieval took less than 10 seconds, but the Internet bandwidth plays a major part in this.
As soon as all details are gathered, you'll be able to see the source the data was taken from, the status of the operation, as well as the status of the looked up domain: registered or available. For registered domains, the amount of information extends to the name of the organization it is registered on, address, city, country, registrant's phone number, email, etc. You will practically be provided all contact details the owner meant to make public. The accuracy of the information is not guaranteed as the registrant can make any modification at any time.
Unlike the web service that provides the same information on domain names, WhoisThisDomain can work with multiple domains at once and allows the user to change the default servers the information is retrieved from. The feature is important in case you need to lookup a domain that is not recorded on regular servers. The procedure involves creating a TXT document containing all the special servers you want to use and placing it inside application's folder. At the next start, default servers will be replaced with your choices.
Additional functionality of the software is infused by the ability to save the properties of the selected search to a TXT or HTML document. It is not full information on the domain, but the operation is automatic and requires no effort from your part.
All columns available after retrieving the information can be arranged to your liking by using the appropriate option under View menu. A faster way to achieve this is simply dragging and dropping them to the desired position.
As long as you have an Internet connection, the application is a great instrument for retrieving information on any domain you type in. It can easily gather data on multiple domains at once, reducing user's input of effort into the operation. Domain list building is one of its best options, but choosing the servers to gather domain information from is not to be overlooked easily.
It can still be improved by providing a list of gTLDs and the servers information it can be retrieved from, but then again this is not for the absolute novice. On the upside, it supports both generic domains as well as country code domains, so if owner and registration information is available, WhoisThatDomain will surely retrieve it.
The Good
The interface is so easy to handle that even my grandmother could use it. And, if you still have trouble using it, the help menu in application's folder will explain everything.
It can retrieve information on multiple domains at once with the same ease as for a single domain and you can change the list of default servers to look for owner and registration information.
The Bad
Having all WHOIS servers in a document and being able to choose the ones you need from there would be of great value for the end user, regardless of the skill level.
The report it generates does not include WHOIS data gathered from the servers, just the domain name, source of information and domain status.
The Truth
WhoisThisDomain is absolutely free of charge and does a great job at retrieving domain owner and registration information. Working with it is a breeze and the hints dropped here and there in the interface definitely bring a contribution in this sense.
However, there is still plenty of room for improvement and there are some features that could be implemented in order to make it stand out even more in the crowd.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
