If you are running a local area network (LAN), you can use Microsoft's Network Monitor 3 program to monitor activity on the network in real time. The type of activity you can monitor includes conversations between the Computer you are working on and other computers linked to the network. You can also use the program to troubleshoot any applications on the network that have encountered problems.
Instructions
Capturing Network Data
1 Go to the official Microsoft page to download and install Microsoft Network Monitor 3.4 (see Resources).2 Open Network Monitor 3.4 and select the "Start Page" tab.
3 Select the "Create a new capture tab" option, then either click "Start Capture" or the F10 key. By doing this, you tell the program to capture data on the network, allowing you to view network data in real-time.
Conversations
1 Click "Tools" and select "Options." Click the "Capture" tab and make sure that the box next to "Enable Conversations" is checked. If it is not, check the box. Conversations are basically communication streams between machines connected to the network. It is how machines connected to the network "talk" to each other, sharing data and other information over the network. With this program, you can open conversations between machines on the network.2 Click a node in the "Network Conversations" pane. A node on a network is a processing location, in this case another computer. So you would be clicking on another computer device on the network to see conversations between the computer you are working on and the other computer.
3 Check the "Frame Summary" pane to see the frames for that conversation displayed. The Frame Summary pane displays when you click on a node in Network Conversations.
