I’m always on the lookout for great apps that make my life easier. I recently discovered one from DEVONTechnologies, one of my favorite companies and the makers of excellent apps like DEVONthink.
This utility is packed with features that are incredibly useful when diagnosing or testing things on your network. It’s called Neo Network Utility 2.0, and it’s essentially a graphical user interface for many of the diagnostic tools and informational properties you might need. 1
For example, there’s an Info tab that lists all your network adapters for wired and wireless connections. It provides information like the MAC address for each adapter, shows you which one is active, and if you’re looking at a wireless connection, it even displays the SSID.
You can view Netstat information, ping remote devices to verify they’re reachable from your machine, perform lookups for different IP addresses, and run Whois queries to see the registration information tied to specific domain names.
One of my favorite diagnostic techniques is running a trace route to see where a connection starts and stops. This helps me verify that traffic is flowing from point A to point B as expected. If it’s not, I know exactly where to start troubleshooting.
Another invaluable tool is the port scanner. You can scan your local machine or a remote machine you’re troubleshooting. For instance, if you want to confirm that your Plex server is listening on port 32400, a quick scan will tell you immediately. If it’s not responding, you know where to begin your diagnostic procedure.
Last but not least, I use the built-in speed test all the time. While I typically rely on fast.com or speedtest.net, having one built right into the app is incredibly convenient. It may not be as flashy, but the information I need is clearly displayed, and that’s what matters.
Overall, it’s a fantastic app, and the best part? It’s 100% free
