Wireshark is a free application that allows you to capture and view the data traveling back and forth on your network, providing the ability to drill down and read the contents of each packet – filtered to meet your specific needs. It is commonly utilized to troubleshoot network problems as well as to develop and test software. This open-source protocol analyzer is widely accepted as the industry standard, winning its fair share of awards over the years.

Originally known as Ethereal, Wireshark features a user-friendly interface that can display data from hundreds of different protocols on all major network types. These data packets can be viewed in real-time or analyzed offline, with dozens of capture/trace file formats supported including CAP and ERF. Integrated decryption tools allow you to view encrypted packets for several popular protocols such as WEP and WPA/WPA2.