Colasoft Capsa Professional Editor's Review

Get a handle on your home network traffic and trouble shoot home network issues with this awesome Windows utility.

Ten to fifteen years ago, no one EVER thought they would have a computer network running in their own home. EVER.  I mean, networks were things you had at the office, or at school, or a library.  You didn't have that at home. It was way too complicated.

Today, not only does anyone with wireless internet access at the house have a home network, you've likely got a number of different items, or nodes, hanging off of it.  Your AppleTV or Roku box, a Slingbox, your PlayStation or Xbox... you may even have a home-based NAS (network attached storage) that allows you to store and retrieve files (usually Office data, pictures and other multi-media like music and movies) from anywhere on your wireless or wired network.

Anytime you have items like that on your network, you're going to bump into problems. Its not an "IF," it’s a "WHEN."  When things that that happen, you're going to be happy you have a tool like Colasoft's Capsa. It’s a network troubleshooting tool for Windows, and its really a must have.

Colasoft Capsa is an expert network analyzer designed for packet decoding and network diagnosis.  It monitors the traffic transmitted over your network and helps you troubleshoot network problems. With the ability of real time packet capture and accurate data analysis, Colasoft Capsa makes your network transparent before you.  It supports monitoring multiple adapters (enterprise edition only), letting you view the traffic passing through your network via different adapters.

The app has some pretty simple filters as well as advanced filters that can narrow the target hosts, letting you quickly focus on suspect traffic and identify the source of network troubles. After you've looked at your traffic and peeked at specific packets, you can get statistics and graphs let you view network communications in various ways, bringing you an overall and visual impression of your network.

App Pro’s: FREE

App Con’s: Limited use by most consumers, may be more tool than most consumers will understand how to use

Conclusion: Colasoft Capsa in any of its varying forms is an advanced tool that will allow you to analyze what traffic is currently flowing across your home network.  You can not only see what type of traffic is flowing, but you'll be able to view the actual data inside the packets. This can be a huge benefit, especially if you've got performance issues with one type of traffic over another.

The app is easy to use, but some of the concepts around it may be a bit more complicated than the average computer user is used to dealing with.  The app, however, should be able to help you figure out where the bottle necks are and may be instrumental in determining what is causing your networking problems.  This is a must have utility.