Basic Overview

This tool tries to discover devices connected to a network by attempting to connect and retrieve a file from a specific port located on one of 256 IP addresses for a specified base. Devices that respond without a timeout are listed in the results summary.

The default base IP address of most wifi networks is 192.168.1. Wifi routers typically appear at 192.168.1.0, 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.1.3 depending on brand. Users of the network are assigned other last numbers between 0 and 255. You can only actually connect to a user if the user has an appropriate server and firewall settings, however, the presence of the user is detected by receipt of an error response. The "normal" port number for "html" web pages is 80. The tools default of 8080 is used because it is the default user port for eightolives products. Common file names found on servers is index.htm or index.html. Since this tool is primarily looking for error responses, exact port number and file name do not necessarily need to be correct. If they are correct and the file is accessible, a "Connected" message will be reported in the status summary.

Two search methods are available. Search by image is faster and really wants to find an image file(i.e. .jpg or .png). Search by web page is slower and wants to find web pages (i.e. .htm or .html). You need to specify the correct method and file name only if you seek to actually connect. Since the tool normally looks for errors, exact settings are not really necessary.

To get more information about the connected devices, you must use your computer's "ping" command or access the information from your router which may require administrative privileges or log in.

Tested with Firefox on Windows 8 and Linux, Safari on iPod ios7. Sorry IE.