tcp/ip

Scan your LAN with Advanced IP Scanner

Famatech's Advanced IP Scanner is a free tool that scans your LAN or Wi-Fi network and provides information about the computers connected to it. Advanced IP Scanner is designed to work closely with the developer's Radmin remote administration software, which adds capabilities. But this simple utility is capable enough to use as a standalone network scanner and robust enough for net admins and other advanced users. It does more than scan and identify the Windows PCs on your network. For example, it can shut down networked computers remotely, and also wake them, if their network cards support the … Read more

Internet co-creator Vint Cerf welcomes IPv6 elbow room (Q&A)

"Predicting is hard, especially about the future," quips Vint Cerf -- and he should know.

That's because about 30 years ago, when the now-famous engineer was helping to design the technology that powers the Internet, Cerf decided just how many devices could connect to the network. His answer -- 2 to the 32nd power, or 4.3 billion -- looked awfully big at the time. A few decades later, we now know it's far short.

Accordingly, Google's chief Internet evangelist and one of the few people at the company who looks natural in a suit … Read more

Preparing OS X for World IPv6 Day on June 8

As the Internet developed there was debate over the network communications protocol to use, but ultimately the fourth revision of IP (IPv4) was implemented for communication between computers and networks. When the Internet was small the 32-bit addressing of IPv4 that limits it to just over 4 billion addresses was perfectly adequate, but recently the last sets of IPv4 addresses have been issued, meaning the size of the IPv4 Internet has reached its maximum.

To overcome this limitation, the Internet Engineering Task Force has been developing a 128-bit addressing system called IPv6 that allows for trillions upon trillions of additional … Read more

Built for speed

We're always a little skeptical of programs that promise to enhance Internet speed, because a lot of the time they just don't work, at least not in any noticeable way. Though we can't promise that Network Mechanic lives up to its claim of increasing network speed by up to 300 percent, we can say that it provided us with an impressively faster connection.

The program is easy to install and configure. Users simply choose which type of Internet service they have from among four choices and click Optimize Now. Windows has to be restarted in order for … Read more

Exploit targets Microsoft's latest Windows patch

If you needed further proof that you should always patch Microsoft Windows when Microsoft tells you to do so, there's an exploit that will target Windows XP and Windows Vista systems lacking Microsoft's first patch of 2008.

Security firm Immunity has provided its customers a workable exploit of the TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) vulnerability. This is standard practice for subscribers to see whether their system is vulnerable to an attack. However, the presence of an exploit (even one provided under contract) increases the likelihood that someone may offer it or something like it for free … Read more

Microsoft fixes three flaws with two patches; one is critical

Microsoft on Tuesday released its January 2008 security bulletin, which includes only two updates: One is designated as "critical" by the software giant and the second one is deemed "important". Both concern the Windows operating system. There are no Microsoft Office updates this month. All Microsoft security patches for Windows and Office software are available via Microsoft Update or via the individual bulletins detailed below.

MS08-001: Critical

Titled "Vulnerabilities in Windows TCP/IP Could Allow Remote Code Execution (941644)", this bulletin affects users of Microsoft Windows 2000, XP SP2, Server 2003, and Vista, and … Read more