Monitoring other comps on my network???

Hello I just recently got my wireless connection up and running on two
machines in my house. Both machines have Windows XP pro mine is using
Service pack 2 and the other is running the original XP. I have a D-Link 524
wireless router and the other comp has a dlink pci card...

I am downstairs and the router is connected via wire to my computer and
wireless to my sons computer upstairs..Is there a way that I can tell what
he is doing online from my computer? I'm mainly interested in knowing what
programs(ports) are accessing the internet. I don't want him using any of
the file sharing programs (his video games and general browsing are fine). I
don't need to know what urls he is visiting although I wouldn't mind being
able to tell that as well.

I generally trust him to be online but I've had to delete file sharing
programs before and I feel better safe than sorry...

I'm an extreme newbie when it comes to wireless so forgive me if this is a
silly question, I just browsed through 7,000+ headers on here trying to find
an answer and I am really lost...

larry wrote:

> Hello I just recently got my wireless connection up and running on two
> machines in my house. Both machines have Windows XP pro mine is using
> Service pack 2 and the other is running the original XP. I have a D-Link
> 524 wireless router and the other comp has a dlink pci card...
>
> I am downstairs and the router is connected via wire to my computer and
> wireless to my sons computer upstairs..Is there a way that I can tell what
> he is doing online from my computer? I'm mainly interested in knowing what
> programs(ports) are accessing the internet. I don't want him using any of
> the file sharing programs (his video games and general browsing are fine).
> I don't need to know what urls he is visiting although I wouldn't mind
> being able to tell that as well.
>
> I generally trust him to be online but I've had to delete file sharing
> programs before and I feel better safe than sorry...
>
> I'm an extreme newbie when it comes to wireless so forgive me if this is a
> silly question, I just browsed through 7,000+ headers on here trying to
> find an answer and I am really lost...

If the computers are connected to the same wireless network and the WLAN
card on your computer supports promiscuous mode (not all do; you just have
to test it) you can use a sniffing program like Ethereal (www.ethereal.com)
to see the pakets the other station is sending and receiving.
Ethereal will automaticly decode the pakets, so you will see many
information without being a network specialist.

Thomas

"larry" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
news:I6Wod.33269$(E-Mail Removed):

> Hello I just recently got my wireless connection up and running on two
> machines in my house. Both machines have Windows XP pro mine is using
> Service pack 2 and the other is running the original XP. I have a
> D-Link 524 wireless router and the other comp has a dlink pci card...
>
> I am downstairs and the router is connected via wire to my computer
> and wireless to my sons computer upstairs..Is there a way that I can
> tell what he is doing online from my computer? I'm mainly interested
> in knowing what programs(ports) are accessing the internet. I don't
> want him using any of the file sharing programs (his video games and
> general browsing are fine). I don't need to know what urls he is
> visiting although I wouldn't mind being able to tell that as well.
>
> I generally trust him to be online but I've had to delete file sharing
> programs before and I feel better safe than sorry...
>
> I'm an extreme newbie when it comes to wireless so forgive me if this
> is a silly question, I just browsed through 7,000+ headers on here
> trying to find an answer and I am really lost...
>
>

If the router has logging and most do, then you can enable the log and the
router will track all inbound and outbound traffic to the router by date
and time, IP and port being used. Then you can use something like KIWI
Syslog Daemon or some other router log capturing tool to accumulate the
logs from the router. KIWI Syslog Daemon is free and the free version log
accumulation is not active it goes to 100 log entries before it rolls over.

The paid for version you can accumulate the logs. With a log utility, you
will be able to see everything in real time.

Duane

"Thomas Krüger" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:co1djg$99n$03$(E-Mail Removed)...
> larry wrote:
>
>> Hello I just recently got my wireless connection up and running on two
>> machines in my house. Both machines have Windows XP pro mine is using
>> Service pack 2 and the other is running the original XP. I have a D-Link
>> 524 wireless router and the other comp has a dlink pci card...
>>
>> I am downstairs and the router is connected via wire to my computer and
>> wireless to my sons computer upstairs..Is there a way that I can tell
>> what
>> he is doing online from my computer? I'm mainly interested in knowing
>> what
>> programs(ports) are accessing the internet. I don't want him using any of
>> the file sharing programs (his video games and general browsing are
>> fine).
>> I don't need to know what urls he is visiting although I wouldn't mind
>> being able to tell that as well.
>>
>> I generally trust him to be online but I've had to delete file sharing
>> programs before and I feel better safe than sorry...
>>
>> I'm an extreme newbie when it comes to wireless so forgive me if this is
>> a
>> silly question, I just browsed through 7,000+ headers on here trying to
>> find an answer and I am really lost...
>
> If the computers are connected to the same wireless network and the WLAN
> card on your computer supports promiscuous mode (not all do; you just have
> to test it) you can use a sniffing program like Ethereal
> (www.ethereal.com)
> to see the pakets the other station is sending and receiving.
> Ethereal will automaticly decode the pakets, so you will see many
> information without being a network specialist.
>
> Thomas



Wow I feel very dumb... Thanks for your help I downloaded ethereal but cant
for the life of my figure it out. I have spent the last day and a half
messing with it but my networking knowledge is nill. I will try to read all
of the manuals again....

thanks again
Larry

"Duane Arnold" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:Xns95AB2E51B3399notmenotmecom@63.240.76.16...
> "larry" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
> news:I6Wod.33269$(E-Mail Removed):
>
>> Hello I just recently got my wireless connection up and running on two
>> machines in my house. Both machines have Windows XP pro mine is using
>> Service pack 2 and the other is running the original XP. I have a
>> D-Link 524 wireless router and the other comp has a dlink pci card...
>>
>> I am downstairs and the router is connected via wire to my computer
>> and wireless to my sons computer upstairs..Is there a way that I can
>> tell what he is doing online from my computer? I'm mainly interested
>> in knowing what programs(ports) are accessing the internet. I don't
>> want him using any of the file sharing programs (his video games and
>> general browsing are fine). I don't need to know what urls he is
>> visiting although I wouldn't mind being able to tell that as well.
>>
>> I generally trust him to be online but I've had to delete file sharing
>> programs before and I feel better safe than sorry...
>>
>> I'm an extreme newbie when it comes to wireless so forgive me if this
>> is a silly question, I just browsed through 7,000+ headers on here
>> trying to find an answer and I am really lost...
>>
>>
>
> If the router has logging and most do, then you can enable the log and the
> router will track all inbound and outbound traffic to the router by date
> and time, IP and port being used. Then you can use something like KIWI
> Syslog Daemon or some other router log capturing tool to accumulate the
> logs from the router. KIWI Syslog Daemon is free and the free version log
> accumulation is not active it goes to 100 log entries before it rolls
> over.
>
> The paid for version you can accumulate the logs. With a log utility, you
> will be able to see everything in real time.
>
> Duane
>

Thanks for your help Duane I'm going to do a bunch of reading and try to
figure out how to use programs both you and Thomas recomended.

Larry