TCP Monitor Plus, lightweight network monitor for Windows

If you want to know more about the connections that your operating system and the programs running on it makes, you have to look beyond what Windows itself is offering.

While you can use native tools to get some information, they are not easy to use and often not as useful as third-party tools that provide better information.

TCP Monitor Plus is a portable lightweight network monitor for Windows.

The program displays the various modules that it makes available in a tab row at the top.

The default tab Traffic Monitor displays network adapter traffic information. You may need to use the pulldown menu to select the right adapter from the list, especially if you have installed multiple ones or use virtual adapters as well.

It displays information about the current incoming and outgoing transfer rate, totals, packets, and a dynamic graph that visualizes the data in real-time.

While that may be useful to some, it does track bandwidth over time for example, the remaining modules that TCP Monitor Plus makes available may be of greater interest.

The Packet Monitor captures packets once you hit the start button. It does not run automatically as it would accumulate lots of data doing so.

What's great about it is that you don't need a third-party tool to capture the data. Once you start the process after verifying that the selected IP address is correct, you will see local and remote IP addresses, ports and other information listed in the interface.

You can check the hostname resolution box before you start as it will resolve IP addresses to hostnames where possible.

Session Monitor on the other hand displays all open connections right away. This module runs automatically on start and you can stop it with a click on a button.

It displays the open connections which can be quite useful in determining the connections your computer makes. Some of them may be initiated by you, for instance when you use a browser, while others may be automatic.

The two next modules, interface and statistics, display information about the network interfaces and protocol statistics and information.  The first displays information about all interfaces similar to what ipconfig displays, the second technical information such as the maximum TCP connections, whether IP forwarding is enabled or the number of failed TCP connections.

The remaining five modules run nslookup, netstat, whois, ping and tracert commands right in the interface. All but netstat require that you enter a hostname first that you want to run the command on. The results are echoed directly in the program interface.

The preferences the program makes available are very extensive. Each module has its own group of preferences that you can modify plus there is one for the program as a whole.

You can change the units used by the traffic monitor, change the packet monitor interval, filter ports, enable log files for most operations, or change the system tray icon of the program based on the network speed.

Closing Words

TCP Monitor Plus is an incredible tool. It is only 332 Kilobyte in size but comes feature packed. It is portable, lightweight, and provides you with lots of network related information. Great tool, highly recommended.