FoundStone's SuperScan 4 lives up to its name

Managing all the many ins and outs of IP protocols is an important part of managing any IP-based network. To that end, every network administrator who works with IP (and who doesn't nowadays?) should have one or more good IP scanning tools in his or her toolbox. Foundstone -- a well-known information security outfit in its own right, and now a part of McAfee -- offers its outstanding SuperScan v4.0 tool free to users willing to agree with its licensing restrictions. This tool is nicely built, easy to use, and offers lots of interesting functions that networks admins everywhere should find informative and useful.

Although some other scanners may do more (for example, the NetScan Pro Tools scanner, part of a for-a-fee IP toolbox, supports more kinds of scans and probes) what this one does, it does very well. What you'll find under its hood is best described in terms of the various tabs that the program interface presents to users:

By plugging through the various sec

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ondary tabs (all of them except Scan) you configure SuperScan to scan what you need scanned. With all settings in place, you run the software by jumping back to the Scan tab and clicking the "Play" button (a blue right-pointing triangle) at the lower left corner of that pane.

What SuperScan tells you about the machines it scans is where it really shines. It's as fast or faster than any other scanner I've used (including netcat, NetScan Tools, and more), and it offers useful information about Windows networks for those who have them.

Grab a copy of SuperScan v4.0 and check it out: you'll probably find yourself using it for real pretty soon!

Ed Tittel is a full-time freelance writer, trainer, and consultant who specializes in matters related to information security, markup languages, and networking technologies. He's a regular contributor to numerous TechTarget Web sites, technology editor for Certification Magazine, and writes an e-mail newsletter for CramSession called "Must Know News."

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