In the last post in this series, I introduced the Network Monitor Experts, which basically is a set of plug-ins for Microsoft Network Monitor 3.3. Top Users Expert is an extension that helps you find heavy talkers in a captured trace. “Users” should not be understood literally here. In this context, users essentially are just IP addresses. Top User Experts enables you to analyze how much bandwidth machines connected to your computer are using. This can be useful if your network is clogged and you want to find the culprit. Of course, there are many other scenarios, such as when you have to know how much bandwidth a certain service requires.

Like the other extensions, Top User Expert analyzes a Network Monitor capture file. That is, you can’t apply the tool to a Capture tab. To use Top User Expert, you have to open a capture file first, and then launch the program from the Experts menu.

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Microsoft Network Monitor is probably the only free network and protocol analysis tool that is a match for Wireshark. It still lacks a few features when it comes analyzing stored network traces and that’s where the Network Monitor Experts comes in. At the moment, there are three available Open Source extensions: TCP Analyzer, Simple Search, and Top Users.

These extensions are separate tools that require Network Monitor 3.3. After you have installed them, you will find them in the Experts menu. This menu is only displayed when you open a previously stored file. Today, I will introduce Simple Search and in the next two posts, I will discuss Top Users and TCP Analyzer.

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Until my recent discovery of Process Hacker, I assumed that Process Explorer was the best Task Manager alternative. However, in some areas, the Open Source tool Process Hacker is more than a match for Microsoft’s Sysinternals tool. The user interfaces of both tools look quite similar. As in Process Explorer, you can add additional columns to view more details of running processes on a Windows machine. Unfortunately, Process Hacker doesn’t allow you to view DLL and handle information in the lower pane like Process Explorer.

To access such data, you have to open the process’s properties. Process Explorer (left hand) and Process Hacker (right hand) differ here (see screenshot). I am missing the open TCP/IP connections in Process Hacker’s process properties. However, the main user interface has an extra tab that lists all processes with their open network connections.

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I didn’t know Macrium Reflect before Claus and Bill recommended it in my review of DriveImageXML. I was so pleased when I tried this backup tool today that I have decided to use it as my own system backup tool for the time being.

Its major advantage over DriveImageXML is that it comes with its own rescue CD, which you need if you have to restore a system drive. It also supports BartPE, but I found the Reflect Rescue CD more convenient. It is Linux-based, so you don’t need a Windows license for it. Its user interface is very easy to use and can be used by anyone who knows how to operate a mouse. By the way, the mouse pointer behaved strangely sometimes in a virtual machine under VMware Workstation 6.5. I didn’t have these problem on physical machine, though.

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Half a year ago, Microsoft announced that they would discontinue Windows Live One Care and instead would offer a free alternative with the code name Morro. Microsoft Security Essentials is the new name and the beta is now available. You can’t download it anymore through Microsoft, but it is still available at Softpedia.

Windows Live One Care

One Care was not really a success. Its market share was only 2%, which is a little embarrassing for a giant like Microsoft. I suppose some security software vendors heaved a sigh of relief when they realized that OneCare was no real competitor for their antivirus tools. I guess the trembling starts again now. It is one thing if small companies such as AVG or Avira offer a free anti-malware tool, but a completely different matter if the Windows maker himself comes out with a free tool. Moreover, the free version will Microsoft help to improve the detection rate of the Forefront products

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Microsoft announced Windows 7 prices. This post summarizes the most important facts. I also share my opinion at the end of the article. The video at the end of the article shows the interview about the announcement with Brad Brooks, Corporate VP for Windows Consumer Marketing.

Upgrade prices

• Windows 7 Home Premium (Upgrade): $119.99
• Windows 7 Professional (Upgrade): $199.99
• Windows 7 Ultimate (Upgrade): $219.99

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A few days ago, I blogged about BartPE, a well known tool for creating a Windows PE based rescue boot CD. Some readers recommended checking out UBCD4Win, which is an offspring of BartPE. The main difference between the two is that the UBCD4Win project is still alive while BartPE seems to have been discontinued. There is also no doubt that UBCD4Win is the far more advanced tool. The number of rescue utilities is impressive. And best of all – its Windows PE installation didn’t crash on my Dell Precision laptop, unlike BartPE.

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