PacketViewer

PacketViewer is a small software application whose purpose is to help you detect and capture IP packets, more specifically TCP, UDP, and ICMP. The tool provides a simple way for listening to Windows system ports (e.g. 135, 445, 1026-1028). It addition, it comes packed with an IP conversion utility.
It can be deployed on all Windows versions out there. In order to run the program correctly and avoid bumping into all sorts of errors and compatibility issues, you need to install Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 on the target computer.

Portable running mode

This is a portable app which makes it an ideal candidate for being stored on USB flash drives or other devices. You can gain access to its features by simply opening the executable file because you do not have to go through an installation process.
In addition, you may run it without being an administrator. The tool does not leave entries on the target PC so you can get rid of it using a quick deletion task.

Interacting with the GUI

PacketViewer reveals a simple and clean environment that displays the captured data directly in the main window. You cannot appeal to a help manual so you need to experiment with the dedicated parameters in order to get an idea about how the utility works.

IP packet sniffing options

The application gives you the possibility to start or stop the monitoring process and check out information about the sniffed IP packets directly in the main window.
What’s more, you are allowed to keep the main window on top of other panels, make the utility automatically scroll the information displayed in the GUI, reveal all packets or only some of them, as well as clear the entire environment with a single click.
Other important options worth being mentioned enable you to save the information to plain text file format to a custom location on your PC by overwriting or appending data, make the main panel transparent, as well as show packet number and resolve IP addresses.
Several configuration settings help you reveal only the desired protocols in the main window (TCP, UDP, or ICMP), show TCP packets (HTTP header or empty message), filter the source and destination IP addresses and ports by specifying the starting and ending values, show all packet messages or filter them by custom data, as well as perform TCP, UDP, and ping tests.
Last but not least, PacketViewer comes packed with an IP conversion utility that allows you to transform a custom IP address to a host name or vice versa.

Final remarks

In conclusion, PacketViewer accommodates several handy and straightforward features under its hood for helping you sniff and view IP packets.