Desktop Netstat

Desktop Netstat is a handy display plugin for Google Desktop that allows you to monitor your computer's network connections in realtime.

You can Discuss Desktop Netstat on Google Groups.

Features

• Monitors all TCP connections (including IPv6 since v1.3);
• Configurable update speed (from half-second to 1 minute);
• Pause command;
• Simple yet descriptive interface:
  • Left-hand side icon indicating whether the socket is listening on the specified port (), the connection is established () or the connection is in progress or closing ();
  • Caption indicating the address and port of the connection, and the process that owns it (XP+);
  • Right-hand side icon of the application that created the connection (XP+); ( if the application does not have an icon)
• Optional host and port name lookup (asynchronous)
• Details View (displayed by single left-clicking on a connection):
  • Provides more information about the endpoints and the application
  • Provides actions to investigate various items (Google search, Find executable, Close connection, etc.)

Screenshots

• Main area
• Details View

Requirements

• Windows NT, 2000, or XP (only XP provides process information for each connection)
• Google Desktop in Sidebar mode

Download

This plugin is distributed as a self-installing EXE file. You can uninstall the Desktop Netstat plugin at any time through the Add/Remove Programs panel. You can display or hide the plugin in your Sidebar by using the Add/Remove Panels dialog.

v1.3a - DesktopNetstat.exe (150 KB)

Note: The installation package changed from MSIs because they did not provide a simple way for you to update the plugins with new versions downloaded here. This new package uninstalls any previous MSI packages, and installs itself using the new installation scheme, which should make updates much easier in the future. Please comment on the installer (via e-mail).

ChangeLog

v1.3a

• Fixed issue with empty listing on systems without IPv6
• "Google Search" action now uses the default localization (instead of Google Canada)

v1.3

• IPv6 support! Please send feedback!
  • Adding suport for IPv6 also required changing many Desktop Netstat internals. Other bugs might have cropped up. Please report.
• Additional Update Intervals: 10 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute
• Better (and slightly smaller) install package

v1.2a

• Option to resolve or not host names and/or ports (context menu of panel title bar, under Lookup Options)

v1.2

• Additional information and actions in Details View:
  • Owner's process ID
  • Finding the process in Task Manager
  • Forcefully closing the connection (except for those in listening state); thanks Rene D. L. G.
  • Terminating the process (including services)
• Additional information (executable description, icon and path) for connections owned by services

v1.1a

• Bug fix: The Details View sometimes didn't appear because the Rich Edit library wasn't being loaded before creating the dialog

v1.1

• Details View (displayed by single left-clicking on a connection):
  • Provides more information about the endpoints and the application
  • Provides actions to investigate various items (Google search, Find executable, etc.)
• Minor fix: Updated listing of plugin in Add/Remove Panels dialog
• Dramatically reduced CPU usage: Desktop Netstat now updates the screen incrementally instead of removing all items and reinserting them.
• Minor adjustment: No right-side icon indicates unknown owning process, while the question mark icon indicates an executable without an icon (more information about the process in Details View).

v1.0a

• A slimmer installer based on SFX CAB archives - let me know how it works for everybody compared to the MSI package. Updates should be much easier from now on.
• The Update Interval is now in its own sub-menu.
• Application icons look a lot nicer! :)
• CPU usage slightly reduced - beware of Half-second refreshes, which use around 8 % of CPU on my computer.
• A new and improved About box; refer to it for quick explanations of the icons!

Author

The author of Desktop Netstat is Catalin Patulea. Feel free to e-mail me with questions and comments. If you would like to see some of the other things I've done, check out my web site.

010046 since 26/12/2005