Packet Sender

Packet Sender is a lightweight and portable piece of software that enables users to connect to a port via the WinSock protocol and send text strings, in order to verify the connection. It comes packed with just a few parameters that can be set up immediately.

Portability advantages

Since there is no installation involved, you can drop the executable file in any part of the hard disk and just click it to run.
Another possibility is to save Packet Sender to a USB flash disk or similar storage unit, in order to run it on any PC with minimum effort and no previous installers.
More importantly, the app does not create new entries in the Windows registry or Start menu, leaving no traces behind after its removal.

Simple interface and options

The main app window is small and provides direct access to all available options, so there's nothing more to it aside from what's visible. All you have to do is specify a server IP and port number, and click a button to connect to it.
Once the connection is established, you can input a text query and send it just as easily. In addition, you can disconnect from the server and try another one. There are no other noteworthy options available here.

Evaluation and conclusion

Packet Sender has not been updated for a very long time, but it works smoothly on later operating systems, as revealed in our tests. However, the app was faulty built from the start, since it does not inform users whether the text strings have been successfully sent or not, let alone provide any other details. The developer has mentioned that this is the first and final release of Packet Sender, so users should resort to more reliable apps for testing connections to servers.