The Port Reporter Tool (Advanced)

Note: The log information produced by this tool can be difficult to understand if you don't have a good knowledge of the TCP/IP network protocols and how the Windows OS functions. To see an example of the log files, check out the following page.

Microsoft has released a great tool for monitoring and diagnosing problems with your network communication. The tool is called, the 'Port Reporter tool'. This tool runs as a service on Windows 2000, XP and 2003, and it logs the TCP and UDP port activity on your local computer.

Below is a brief list of some of the information the tool logs:

• The ports/protocols that are being used
• Which processes are using specific ports
• If a specific process is related to a service
• The user account that the process is running under.
• The modules (i.e. DLL files) that are being used by the process.