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'''[[Wireshark]]''' is a free [[packet sniffer]] computer [[application software|application]]. It is used for [[computer network|network]] troubleshooting, analysis, software and [[communications protocol]] development, and education. In June 2006 the project was renamed from '''Ethereal''' due to trademark issues.
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The functionality Wireshark provides is very similar to [[tcpdump]], but it has a [[GUI]] [[front-end and back-end|front-end]], and many more information sorting and filtering options. It allows the user to see all traffic being passed over the network (usually an [[Ethernet]] network, but Wireshark also supports decoding [[802.11]] frames and even [[USB]] traffic) by putting the network card into [[promiscuous mode]].
Wireshark uses the cross-platform [[GTK+]] widget toolkit, and is [[cross-platform]], running on various computer [[operating system]]s including [[FreeBSD]], [[Linux]], [[Mac OS X]], and [[Microsoft Windows]]. Released under the terms of the [[GNU General Public License]], Wireshark is [[free software]].
