Program for searching wi-fi networks. WiFi Guard program for monitoring WiFi connections on the network

Are you already familiar with WeFi? This is a free utility that will make it easier for you to search for Wi-Fi slots, select the best one according to the parameters and connect to it. All you have to do is download WeFi and install it on any partition of your PC’s hard drive.

The key feature of the WeFi program is its simply colossal database of more than 100 million Wi-Fi hotspots across the planet. Thus, even if there is not a single open access point around you, WeFi will definitely tell you exactly where you can find it.

In the program settings, you can set automatic startup - then WeFi will begin its work along with the start of Windows. However, the application has other, no less interesting features:

Features of the free WeFi program

Online status of friends. An interesting feature that shows which of your friends are currently connected to the Internet and where exactly. That is, you can calculate not only the online status, but also the location of your friends, which is more than entertaining!
The WeFi program automatically detects and connects even to those hotspots that require connection via a web page. WeFi also connects without problems to those points where the user is required to accept the terms of use that are indicated on the web page.
To see the location of all hotspots available on the map, you just need to indicate the city in which you live.
You can select the connection mode to any Wi-Fi points, or only to verified ones.
If WeFi finds a new access point, it will be automatically added to the map.
There are versions of the WeFi program not only for Windows, but also for mobile platforms - for example, Android and Windows Phone.
The program can be used to communicate in the form of a chat between several users of wi-fi slots, while showing the location of each of them.

Diagnostics of Wi-Fi networks and detection of free channels

In this article we will talk about how to detect a free channel WiFi network for more accurate (reliable) configuration of an access point or other wireless equipment. Wi-Fi diagnostics networks is performed by specialized utilities. Among them there are both paid and free versions, the most popular are presented below:

Let's focus on the utility inSSIDer, as it is a powerful tool for diagnosing wireless networks. This program will help you measure signal strength and evaluate the performance of your Wi-Fi equipment in different locations. You can clearly see and check how walls, stairs, doors, and in general the layout and materials of your premises affect the coverage area of the wireless network being served. Moreover, the Home version is completely free.
Currently, in any modern city, every home or office is literally teeming with an abundance of Wi-Fi networks. At the same time, when several wireless networks overlap the channel on which they operate (i.e. several AP in a building, a Wi-Fi network is distributed over one channel), a situation arises where the operation of all Wi-Fi networks on this channel slows down. Scanner inSSIDer will help you discover the best channel for your Wi-Fi.

Features of this software:

inSSIDer uses your current wireless card software and Wi-Fi connection
Works with Microsoft Windows Vista, 7 and 8.1 (32 and 64 bit)
tracks the strength of received signals in dBm over time
Sorting by MAC address, SSID, channel number, RSSI, and time is available

Installing the utility does not cause any difficulties. It is worth noting - if you use several wireless adapters, then in the menu Network connection select the desired wireless adapter - it will be used to scan. Next, the program will automatically scan wireless networks and display information about the airwaves. Below is a screenshot of the inSSIDer working window:

Working window of the inSSIDer program

Let's take a closer look at the information provided:

SSID– name of the wireless network.
Channel– channel number on which the wireless network operates. It is recommended to use a wireless channel that has the least number of other networks.
RSSI– power level of the received signal. The higher the RSSI number, or the less negative it is, the stronger the signal. Try not to share the Channel number with access points that are close to your network in terms of signal strength.
Security– type of security. In some versions of the utility, the security type WPA2-TKIP denoted as RSNA, A WPA2-AES How CCMP.
MaxRate– the maximum speed of the device at the physical level (maximum theoretical speed) provided by the access point.
Vendor– access point manufacturer.

In Russia, 13 wireless channels are allowed for use, three of which are non-overlapping (these are channels 1, 6 and 11).
If the wireless adapter installed on your computer/laptop/tablet/smartphone is intended for use in the US, it will only be able to use channels 1 through 11. Therefore, if you set the channel number to 12 or 13 (or if one of them was selected by the automatic channel selection algorithm), the wireless client will not see the access point. In this case, you must manually set the channel number from the range 1 to 11.

So, we got acquainted with one of the utilities used for Wi-Fi diagnostics - inSSIDER. In the next article we will talk in more detail about the reasons for the unstable operation of wireless networks - stay tuned to the blog site.

One of the previous articles already discussed Wireless Network Monitor from NirSoft, which allows you to monitor Wi-Fi connections on your network. Due to its simplicity and convenience, Wireless Monitor is quite popular. In this article we will talk about another product, which in many ways is very similar to the program from NirSoft. The product is called Wi-Fi Guard from SoftPerfect.

WiFi Guard is a multi-platform application with a portable version and Russian localization, which is available for both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of operating systems. Supported systems include Windows, Mac OS and Linux. So you can use the program on almost any computer. When you first launch the program, you will be asked to choose between the available network adapters on your computer. Please note that wired networks are also scanned by the program, despite the presence of WiFi in the name. After you select the desired adapter, the program will scan your network and show you a detailed report in tabular form, which will include IP addresses, computer names, device manufacturers, MAC addresses and other parameters.

A nice feature of the program is that WiFi Guard keeps a history of all detected devices on your network. So, if any of the devices is not currently connected, you can always find out whether it was connected before. In some ways, this is a great way to keep track of who is using your local network. To do this, just set the appropriate frequency of network scanning in the program settings and set the application to start at system startup. In addition to this, you can also set up a sound when an unknown device is detected on the network, and sending an email. The program is also a convenient tool for troubleshooting, for example, for checking the availability of devices on the network.

Note: Of course, you can use more complex tools in conjunction with a firewall to monitor your network. However, most often, simple and small utilities are more than enough to track devices locally.

You can download Wi-Fi Guard and find more detailed information on the developer’s website using this link. The program does not contain viruses according to VirusTotal.

Now, you will always have another great network monitoring tool at hand.

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Technical Tips

The article discusses free software running Microsoft Windows, which allows for a preliminary analysis of the radio coverage of the territory for the presence of third-party equipment operating in the Wi-Fi range 2.4/5 GHz. A comparison was made of the technical features of the software under consideration.

Introduction

In wireless networks, the communication channel between the transmitter and the receiver is open, which greatly complicates the analysis of radio signal propagation in the territory of the designed network. What's even worse is that neighboring wireless equipment can have a negative impact on your network through this "open" channel. Therefore, radio survey of the territory plays a very important role in the design of a Wi-Fi network. Some experts claim that radio inspection is a completely unnecessary stage, citing the fact that surrounding networks are also constantly appearing, developing, modernizing, moving, etc. But you must agree, it’s better to know in advance that there is a gigantic network of points living near you access of a neighboring office, and take appropriate measures (for example, move to other non-overlapping frequency channels), rather than later encounter problems with radio wave interference and, as a consequence, low throughput of your “open” communication channel.

Today there is a sufficient amount of software that allows you to assess the level of the surrounding electromagnetic background in the 2.4/5 GHz ranges. This article discusses programs that run under Windows OS.

1. Acrylic Wi-Fi

Acrylic Wi-Fi is the newest free network scanner that displays available wireless networks, their technical characteristics (protocol, channel, maximum speed, etc.) as well as information about their level of protection. The program even provides a list of Wi-Fi passwords that are used by default access points.

Acrylic has a paid professional version with advanced capabilities to detect wireless security issues. Also in this version, the program performs a radio survey of the territory and offers to select the optimal channels on the network to ensure the most correct operation. The appearance of the program is shown in Figure 1:

Figure 1 - Appearance of the Acrylic Wi-Fi program

In the free version of the program, its capabilities remain rather meager, limited to the output of the information shown in the screenshot above (Figure 1), namely: transmitted by the access point - SSID; its MAC address; RSSI - signal strength; Chan - number of the channel used for transmission; 802.11x - Wi-Fi transmission standard; Max Speed - maximum speed; WEP/WPA/PWA2 - encryption type. An excellent feature is that the program shows which access points have WPS 1.0/2.0 mode enabled, because it’s no secret that this WPS 1.0 has long been a kind of “back door” for any network. It also displays related information about the manufacturer (Vendor) and the type of network in which the access point operates (Type), or in other words: does it have access to the Internet, or there is no point in breaking it (just kidding). For added drama, a graph is displayed showing changes in signal strength from various access points over time (bottom right in Figure 1).

In general, the free version of Acrylic Wi-Fi is limited to the listed set of functions. Quite meager, considering that long before this program, software appeared that was capable of more.

It’s difficult to find fault with the professional version of the program; quite a lot of useful functions have been crammed into it, for example, the program itself will indicate access points that negatively affect your network. Acrylic allows you to generate reports on the status of Wi-Fi networks with detailed characteristics of access points and transfer them to a communicator or administrator’s computer.

Resume on Acrylic Wi-Fi: When working with this program, I got the feeling that it was made entirely on the Kali Linux platform, with the only difference being that the graphical shell was added for working under Windows. The paid version is complemented by the fact that it allows you to generate reports in HTML format and helps the user make decisions about setting up the network without going into technical nuances. Thus, I would rate the free version of the program three points on a five-point scale; it can be classified as software for “beginners”; the paid version of the program deserves a slightly higher rating of three plus (due to the generation of reports). However, overall the program remains weak in its technical capabilities. In addition, it contains a bunch of distracting links leading to the developer’s website and profiles on google+, Facebook, twitter, etc. Which overall creates the impression not of a technical application, but of a program for entertainment, when, out of nothing to do, I decided to “monitor” my neighbors’ Wi-Fi access points.

2. Wi-Fi Scanner

This software can show detailed information about 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac networks near you, as well as access point parameters and signal strength. The program also has a paid and free version, unlike the previous software, they do not differ in functionality. After installing the program, you can use it for 30 days, after which you need to register it - free for personal use, or buy it in case of commercial use of the software. The appearance of the program is shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 - Appearance of the Wi-Fi Scanner program

As in the previous software, the main column displays information about available networks, but the information is more extensive. Availability of additional columns: Achievable rate - actually achievable data transfer rate, Channel Width - used channel width, Spatial stream - spatial streams (here we are talking about MIMO technology), Channel Utilization - how loaded the data transmission channel is, and more extensive information about the security protocols used , and specifically the encryption type: CCMP/TKIP/WEP/ or a combination thereof.

The free version of this program includes all the features listed in the professional version of Acrylic Wi-Fi. In particular: Figure 3 shows a graph of the signal level from available Wi-Fi networks. Very convenient and intuitive.

Figure 3

Figure 4 provides extended information about one of the surrounding networks. In this case, this network is of the same name Rostelecom.

Figure 4

Resume on WiFi Scanner: In my opinion, the design of this program is quite “easy” in terms of perception of the displayed information, and the location of all buttons and tabs is intuitive. This program is an excellent solution for private use, and for commercial use the prices are reasonable. The program deserves an excellent rating.

3.Homedale

Belongs to the "weak" class. From a technical point of view, the program has glitches and shortcomings, but it works on the latest versions of Windows. The program is easy to use, but it only allows you to evaluate the signal level coming from the access point and some information already listed in previous software products. The program does not see equipment manufacturers and does not always determine the model of the access point whose network it has detected. Moreover, the signal strength from the access point is also not always able to be determined. The appearance of the main program window is shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5

The program does not provide filters in any way, therefore, for example, on the graph of the power distribution of available access points by channel, it is impossible to remove connections that are “uninteresting” for us, so it simply shows such uninformative stuffing (Figure 6):

Figure 6

Considering the incomplete performance of this program, it is rated, to put it mildly, “unsatisfactory.” The program is quite weak compared to other similar free software distributed throughout the Internet.

4. Outdated monitoring programs

The list of outdated programs includes those that either do not support “modern” Wi-Fi standards - IEEE 802.11n/ac, or no longer work under Windows 7/8/8.1/10. And the appearance of these programs is quite depressing, which is not pleasing to the eye.

Network Stumbler is a lightweight wireless network monitoring tool for Windows. Its development stopped at supporting 802.11 a/b/g standards, that is, it monitors the network only in the 2.4 band, excluding five gigahertz. The software works on Microsoft Windows systems up to and including XP.

WirelessNetView was once an excellent tool for monitoring Wi-Fi networks, but is now somewhat outdated.

Wireless Network Watcher - originally created for detecting and analyzing Wi-Fi networks. I used it myself once; the utility scanned local networks, including wireless ones. The program displays a list of all devices currently connected to the scanned network. The device information output table displays information such as: IP, MAC address, device name and adapter manufacturer. The list can be exported to HTML. On the issue of analyzing Wi-Fi networks, her attitude is rather mediocre, because in order to get information about a Wi-Fi network, you need to connect to it. In fact, it was included in this review simply because of its specific name.

Instead of a conclusion

The Acrylic Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi Scanner programs listed above belong to the class of those free programs that keep up with the times and are capable of monitoring access points running on the relatively recently introduced IEEE 802.11ac. In addition to the programs reviewed, there are also no less famous ones that were not included in this review, among which inSSIDer is an entirely paid software recently. In addition, a large number of programs running Android OS, Mac OS and Linux are available on the network. But that's another story.

Thanks to specially created programs, the procedure for discovering and connecting to Wi-Fi, as well as organizing a wireless Internet access point, is greatly simplified using only a laptop or other device connected to the global network.

The following guide will help you understand the huge variety of such applications and introduce the basic techniques for working with them.

Advantages and main purpose of such programs

They provide ease of search, connection and creation of Wi-Fi hotspots.

When analyzing the presence of wireless networks, such programs are capable of automatically determining the stability of connections, sorting by the strength of the transmitted signal, etc.

Many utilities are supplied with regularly updated hotspot databases, which allows the user to quickly find a Wi-Fi network even when outside its coverage area.

Some applications allow even a novice user to easily create their own hotspots. All that is usually required of a person is to click, create a point, and assign it an original name.

The utilities are designed not only to work on Windows PCs, but also on Android and Windows Phone mobile platforms.

Most often they are used in laptops and smartphones, since they are already equipped with built-in Wi-Fi modules from the manufacturer.

Activating it is not a problem on mobile devices, but to enable it on a laptop you need to know about some of the nuances of the laptop model you are using.

How to enable Wi-Fi adapter on a laptop?

To connect to Wi-Fi on a laptop, you must activate the module with a switch or key combination.

To enable the Wi-Fi adapter on your laptop, you must do the following:

Various button combinations can be used. If they do not have characteristic patterns, then it is recommended to go through the options from “F1” to “F12”, of course, not forgetting to hold the “Fn” button.

Application for connecting to Wi-Fi “Maxidix Wifi Suite”

In less than four years, this utility has managed to gain popularity among users all over the world.

Many similar programs do not have a Russian interface, but Maxidix does not have this drawback.

Often professional programmers prefer this application, as it allows you to establish 100% control over Wi-Fi connections.

In addition to the basic functions of detecting and connecting to wireless networks, it is capable of counting consumed traffic.

Thanks to the use of a special algorithm, the procedure for connecting to Wi-Fi takes several times less time.

The program shows geographic location, has the function of exporting and importing network profiles and much more.

WeFi

The utility searches for networks to connect to Wi-Fi.

Two main advantages have made it popular all over the world:

The application is distributed free of charge;
The utility's database contains hundreds of millions of Wi-Fi networks around the world.

The main disadvantage of the application is the lack of a Russian interface.

Even when there are no available access points within the user’s radius, he can quickly find the closest one on the map and, for example, quickly get to it by metro.

Flexible application settings allow you to adapt it to the specific needs of the user.

If a network connection is required constantly, then the utility can be launched simultaneously with the completion of Windows loading on the computer.

Sociable people will like the “Online status of friends” option. Through it, the user will always know the location of his friends and acquaintances, or rather, which point they connected to (the point is displayed on the map).

There are versions of the utility designed not only to work on PCs, but also on Windows Phone and Android operating systems.

Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector

If you need a real radar for wireless networks, this free program has a similar built-in tool.

The application analyzes the stability and speed of the connection. The user only needs to click on the corresponding virtual keys: “Test” and “Speed Test”.

Experienced users and specialists often use this utility to select the optimal location of the router.

Thanks to the accurate results of analyzing the quality of the wireless signal broadcast, reliable communication will be ensured between the access point and, for example, a smart TV or computer.

The application is also convenient for determining the location of surveillance cameras that use a wireless communication channel with a router and PC.

Unfortunately, all modifications of the application do not have a Russian-language menu.

However, using the application is not difficult even without knowledge of a foreign language.

After clicking on “Radar”, the utility automatically analyzes available networks, and then provides the laptop owner with a list of them in an intuitive interface.

The user becomes available detailed information about each detected point, down to the signal strength and the router manufacturer.

MyPublicWiFi

If you need to create a Wi-Fi hotspot, then the free MyPublicWiFi utility does a great job.

A user's router may suddenly stop working, or some people may not have one at all. However, this does not prevent them from actively using their own Wi-Fi access point on their PC.

For this purpose, you will need to perform the following sequential actions:

Note: Before running the utility, you need to turn on the Wi-Fi module of the laptop using the instructions from the first paragraph of this manual.

mHotspot

A program similar to the previous one in its purpose, it allows you to turn a PC into a router and protect the network with an access code, so you don’t have to worry that someone else will connect to the user’s resources.

The utility is not Russified, but it is absolutely free.

The application allows you to manually set the allowed number of network clients.

Data about users connected to the created point is shown in the “Clients” section.

The “Hotspot” tab displays the data reception and transmission speed values.

As you can see, everything is simple, therefore, despite the English-language interface, even a beginner can easily cope with the operation of the application.

Connectify

Another program for creating a Wi-Fi hotspot. Despite the fact that it is paid, it has many fans. It is not demanding on laptop resources and is easy to configure.

After installation and launch of the utility, the following menu will be displayed.

Using 4 tabs, you can configure the operation of the utility.

It is recommended to go to the “Settings” tab and click “Launch Options”.

Specify parameters based on personal preferences, for example, organize the utility to autostart after Windows boots, etc.

In the “Display” tab, you can allow or block the display of advertising.

In the Network Address Translation Settings tab, advanced users can enter specific data, however, the default settings here are already configured for optimal application performance.

Additional settings are located in a separate section “Advanced settings”.

Through the “Languages” item, if “Russian” is not installed, then for convenience it is recommended to select. After this, the application interface will immediately be Russified.