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Last Review: February 1, 2010
Who should be using this page?
This page is intended for persons who have an
older version of NetScanTools Pro now and are considering
upgrading to the latest version.
The Case for Upgrading
to NetScanTools Pro 10.x
Upgrades have their basis in change.
Change are brought about from continuous improvement to our software
and changes in the underlying operating system or the internet data
we access. For instance, versions of NetScanTools Pro earlier
than 10.81 may not operate correctly on Windows 7.
The decision to upgrade any software depends on your needs.
If your software fulfills your needs as is and you do not need any
new features provided by the new versions, then it is difficult
to make a case for upgrading. However, some features that work fine
now may degrade in their performance due to changes in the underlying
operating system or resources we access on the internet that are
beyond our control. Those changes are usually addressed through
fixes. Since we are a small company with limited resources, we cannot
issue fixes for old versions forever to keep up with changes beyond
our control. The newer versions often contain fixes for issues in
old versions.
There are continuous improvements to our software. These
are brought about several ways, from customer suggestions, changes
to resources we access on the internet, new features being made
available by the underlying operating system, and improvements to
the software brought about by new methods or by addressing issues.
Examples of continuous improvement:
- Features added due to customer suggestions. There
have been many. In fact probably over 50% of the program has
been created due to customer suggestions. A recent suggestion
by Boris S. led to the addition of DNS Verify on the Name Server
Lookup tool.
- Features changed due to changes in things we access on
the internet. Whois is probably the most changed feature.
Because of the reallocation of registration services over the
years and most recently the changes to .travel and .eu registration,
we are constantly having to address the methodology used to
make the queries. Plus, we have to periodically update the server
lists for each domain extension.
- Features enabled by operating system improvements.
Examples are the Port Scanner SYN scan or the IP Packet Viewer.
- Features improved by better methods and addressing issues.
A recent case would be the drastic speedup of NetScanner. Previously,
it was quite slow by comparison. Now with the introduction of
NetScanTools 10, it is much faster.
Keeping with the current version means we can address issues
or questions you have faster. There have been many questions
over the years where we know the issue was previously addressed
but not in the version the customer has. While we try to come up
with workarounds and occasionally fixes for older versions, we do
not have resources to create fixes (service packs) for the older
versions.
Finally, to help you decide if the newest version would be of
benefit to you, we are highlighting the changes from each major
release below. This shows what you have missed in the releases
between the one you have now and the current release. For a detailed
list of the changes in the current release
please look at this page.
Major
changes in each NetScanTools Pro version
This is not an exhaustive list
of the changes, but a list of highlights for each major release.
- NetScanTools Pro 10 (initial released
Feb 2005)- revision history is
here.
- NetScanTools Pro 2004 (version 9, Jan
2004)
- Major user interface change. The tabbed
dialog box is gone.
- NetScanTools Pro 2003 (version 8, Jan
2003)
- Port Probe SYN 'half-open' scanning and
other TCP stealth scans. Windows XP/2000 only.
- IP Packet Viewer now has loading/saving
packet capture sessions. Exporting packet to binary file,
searching within displayed data, post-capture filtering
of displayed data, and sorting by clicking headers.
- Network Info and Stats makeover. Also
has feature for listing executable files using each TCP/UDP
port (Windows XP/2000/NT4 only). IP Address/Subnet Mask
entries added to each interface information entry.
- NetBIOS Info now has limits on depth
of scanning for NetBIOS enabled systems. Filter by domain,
numbers of machines, types of shares to report, depth of
searching. New Advanced Features include ability to gather
user list, account info, group account info, password policy,
LSA policy, shares, system time info and open shared files
from Windows XP/2000/NT4 systems.
- TimeSync makeover including new display
of time.
- DNS Verify added to Name Server Lookup.
- SMTP Email Generator now has new mailing
engine that includes CC, BCC, and multiple email attachments.
- New Whois changes and more domains suffixes
added.
- Automatic Upgrade check.
- NetScanTools Pro 2002 Release 2 (version
7, July 2002)
- Improved whois processing of IP address
whois queries and new domain suffixes added.
- Help Wizard added to bottom button row.
Answers to common questions and procedures.
- Traceroute changes including ICMP only,
UDP only, fixed UDP port trace.
- List Domain on Name Server Lookup tab
is now automated. It automatically determines the Auth server
to use for the Zone Transfer.
- Major changes to SNMP real time bandwidth
monitor including limits, alerts, and launch and restore
save sessions. Better logging.
- New features on SNMP include [...] button
showing list of actual loaded mibs. Adding MIB is simplified.
- System Uptime since boot now on TimeSync
tab.
- Wake On LAN (WOL) added to Simple Services
tab.
- Next and Previous buttons added to packet
data viewer in IP Packet Viewer.
- Autocleanup of results intermediate files.
- IP/MAC Management tab has right click
option for identifying NIC manufacturer.
- Port Probe has new progress bar.
- NetScanTools Pro 2002 Release 1 (version
6, Jan 2002)
- IP Packet Viewer introduced. Captures
packets on a Windows XP/2000 machine.
- RFC Reference tab introduced consolidating
all RFCs on one tab.
- Port Probe connections are now timed
and displayed.
- Under construction.
- NetScanTools Pro 2001 Release 2 (version
5, July 2001)
- Under construction.
- NetScanTools Pro 2001 Release 1 (version
4, Jan 2001)
- Under construction.
- NetScanTools Pro 2000 Release 3 (version
3, July 2000)
- Under construction.
- NetScanTools Pro 2000 Release 2 (version
2, Jan 2000)
- Under construction.
- NetScanTools Pro 2000 Release 1 (version
1, July 1999)
- Initial release.
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