How to Use NetworkTrafficView to Monitor Your Network in Real TimeNetworkTrafficView is a lightweight, free Windows utility by NirSoft that captures and summarizes network packets into readable flows. It’s ideal when you want quick visibility into what devices and processes are communicating on your network without installing a heavy packet-capture suite. This guide covers installation, configuring real-time capture, reading the main views, filtering and grouping traffic, useful troubleshooting workflows, and privacy/security considerations.
What NetworkTrafficView does (and doesn’t)
NetworkTrafficView collects packet-level data and organizes it into flows (conversations) between endpoints. Each flow row shows data such as source/destination IP and ports, protocol (TCP/UDP/ICMP), number of packets, bytes transferred, start/end time, and application/process name when available.
- It captures live traffic from a selected network adapter.
- It can read saved capture files (PCAP) and display them as flows.
- It does not provide deep packet inspection or protocol decoding like Wireshark, nor extensive visualization dashboards. It’s best for quick monitoring and basic troubleshooting.
Installing and launching NetworkTrafficView
- Download NetworkTrafficView from the NirSoft website (choose the x86 or x64 version matching your OS).
- Extract the ZIP to any folder — no installer is required.
- Run NetworkTrafficView.exe as an administrator to allow access to adapters and packet capture APIs.
- On first launch you may be prompted to select a network adapter.
Tip: If capture fails, ensure WinPcap or Npcap is installed (Npcap is recommended). Install Npcap in “WinPcap-compatible mode” if prompted.
Starting real-time capture
- From the main window, choose Capture → Start Capture (or press F2).
- Select the network adapter that carries the traffic you want to monitor (Wi‑Fi vs Ethernet vs virtual adapters).
- Optional: set a capture buffer size and maximum number of flows in Options → Advanced to avoid excessive memory usage on busy networks.
The grid will populate with flow rows as connections are observed. Each flow is updated live: packet/byte counters increase and the “End Time” refreshes while traffic continues.
Key columns and what they mean
- Start Time / End Time — timestamps for the first and most recent observed packet in the flow.
- Source IP / Destination IP — endpoints of the connection.
- Source Port / Destination Port — useful to identify services (e.g., 80, 443, 53).
- Protocol — TCP, UDP, ICMP, etc.
- Packets / Bytes — counts for direction A→B and B→A plus totals.
- Process Name — when available, shows the local application name responsible for traffic (Windows only).
- Country — optional field if GeoIP lookup is enabled, helpful to spot remote origins.
Filtering and searching
NetworkTrafficView’s filter bar lets you quickly narrow displayed flows.
Common filters:
- By IP: ip:192.168.1.15
- By port: dstport:443 or srcport:53
- By protocol: proto:TCP or proto:UDP
- By process: process:chrome.exe
Combine filters with AND/OR (use spaces for AND, pipe | for OR). Example: proto:TCP dstport:443 process:chrome.exe
Use the Find dialog (Ctrl+F) for quick text searches.
Grouping and sorting
- Sort columns by clicking headers — sort by Bytes or Packets to find the heaviest flows.
- Use View → Choose Columns to add/remove columns such as Country or Interface.
- Use the “Group By” feature (View → Group By) to group flows by Process, Protocol, Destination IP, or Port — useful to see total usage per application or service.
Example: Group by Process to see total bytes per application during a capture session.
Exporting and saving data
- Export displayed flows to CSV, XML, HTML, or plain text via File → Save Selected Items.
- Save the entire capture as a PCAP file for later analysis in Wireshark (right-click → Save Selected Packets as PCAP).
- Use command-line options (NetworkTrafficView supports command-line parameters) to start capture and save automatically for scripting or scheduled tasks.
Example CLI usage:
NetworkTrafficView.exe /Capture 1 /SaveFile "C:ptures et1.pcap" /CloseOnFinish 1 Practical real-time monitoring workflows
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Spotting a bandwidth hog
- Start capture on the correct adapter.
- Sort by “Bytes Total” descending.
- If a single IP or process tops the list, right-click → Show Flow Details to inspect ports and destination addresses.
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Finding suspicious external connections
- Group by Destination IP or Country to surface unusual remote endpoints.
- Look for unexpected high-count short-lived connections (port scans) or persistent connections to unknown countries.
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Troubleshooting slow web access
- Filter for dstport:80 | dstport:443 and group by Process.
- Check packet loss or repeated retransmissions (high packets-to-bytes ratio suggests many small retransmissions).
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Correlating with system behavior
- When you observe unexpected traffic, note the Process Name column then open Task Manager/Process Explorer to inspect the process further.
Limitations and when to use other tools
- For deep protocol analysis, reconstructing streams, or following TLS handshake details, use Wireshark.
- For long-term logging, alerting, and visualization, consider a network monitoring platform (ntopng, Zeek, or a flow collector like NetFlow/PCAP aggregators).
- NetworkTrafficView is best for quick, on-the-fly inspections and lightweight continuous monitoring on endpoints.
Security and privacy considerations
- Capture requires elevated privileges — only run as admin when necessary.
- Packet captures can contain sensitive data; store and share PCAPs carefully.
- GeoIP and process-name identification rely on local lookups and Windows APIs — verify suspicious items with multiple tools before acting.
Quick reference checklist
- Install Npcap if capture fails.
- Run as Administrator.
- Select correct adapter.
- Use filters (ip:, dstport:, process:) to narrow results.
- Sort by Bytes/Packets for heavy usage.
- Export PCAP for deeper analysis.
NetworkTrafficView is a compact, practical tool for gaining immediate visibility into live network traffic on Windows. Its simplicity makes it useful for technicians and power users who need fast answers without the complexity of full packet analyzers.
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