NetAudit is a simple network toolkit

NetAudit is a portable network toolkit for Windows which combines simple Ping, Traceroute, Whois and connection monitoring features.

The program interface is a mess. There’s a useless list of processes; a Network Usage indicator which isn’t scaled properly so it’s almost always blank; big arrows with figures to presumably indicate total uploaded and downloaded data, although with no tooltips or labels it’s hard to tell.

For some reason the developer has decided to tuck the program’s main functions in the bottom right-hand corner, normally the last place you’d look. But we spotted them eventually: four buttons for Ping, Traceroute, Whois, Inspect Traffic.

Type a host name or IP address, click Ping or Traceroute and NetAudit runs the standard Windows command, capturing its output and displaying it in a central pane.

This is a very basic approach -- NetAudit is really just acting as a simple GUI for the standard commands -- but it does make them easier to use, and at least you know the underlying technology is reliable.

The "Inspect Traffic" similarly runs a Netstat -b command to list processes with active network connections, again displaying the results in NetAudit’s own window.

We’re not quite as sure what’s happening under the hood with the "Whois" command, but it works just as you’d expect: enter microsoft.com or some other domain, tap Whois and see the registration information.

One obvious issue here is that you can’t select, copy or do anything else with the text in the report panel, other than look at it. This is actually worse than the Windows command line, which is at least trying to better support clipboard actions.

On the plus side, NetAudit does log your commands by default. If you’ve run a couple of Ping commands, check the NetAudit .\Logs folder and you’ll find the output saved in two text files.

NetAudit isn’t for network experts. If you’re already happy at the command line, if you know when to use netstat, if you’ve other network toolkits already, or if you’re just annoying by dumb interface decisions, it’s probably best you stay away.

If you’re just looking for an easier way to run basic Ping, Traceroute or Whois commands, though, the program might save you a little time. Take a look.

NetAudit is a free tool for Windows XP and later.