How to see who’s using your wireless gaming router network on a Windows PC
One of the easiest ways to monitor your wireless gaming router network on your Windows PC is to use the free program Wireless Network Watcher.
Created by the prolific software developer Nir Sofer, aka NirSoft, this simple tool shows you exactly which devices are currently connected to your network, so you can quickly identify unusual and unauthorized activity. Here's how to use it.
- First, download the free program Wireless Network Watcher from NirSoft. You’ll find the download link about two-thirds of the way down the web page.
We recommend choosing the “wnetwatcher_setup.exe” option, though you can also download the tool as a ZIP file.
- Run the installer to install Wireless Network Watcher on your PC. Once the setup wizard is complete, select “Run NirSoft Wireless Network Watcher” and click Finish.
- Wireless Network Watcher will immediately start scanning your Wi-Fi network and list all the devices that it detects to be connected.
You can also run a scan manually by clicking the File menu and choosing “Start Scanning.” Make sure your computer is connected to Wi-Fi and not Ethernet before scanning.
- When the scan is complete, you can review Wireless Network Watcher’s findings. Pay particular attention to the “Device Name” and “Network Adapter” columns to see if any unknown or unauthorized devices are currently connected to your network.
Double-click an entry to view more information about that device in a Properties window.
- You can instruct Wireless Network Watcher to make a beeping noise when a new device connects to, or disconnects from, your Wi-Fi network.
Click the Options menu and select “Beep On New Device” and/or “Beep On Disconnected Device,” to receive audio alerts about wireless gaming router activity.
