Advanced IP Scanner is mostly a network scanner, although it also includes plenty of useful network management tools.

Launch the Advanced IP Scanner download and it looks like a regular installer (displays a "Setup" window, asks you to choose the "Setup language"). And you can use it that way, but there's also an option to run the program as a portable tool, convenient if you'd like to try it on someone else's system.

However you run Advanced IP Scanner, the program is extremely simple to use. There's no need to specify the IP addresses to scan, masks or anything else; just click the "Scan" button and it'll immediately begin checking your system.

Any hardware detected during the scan is listed on a "Results" tab. You'll see the device name (if appropriate), its manufacturer, IP and MAC address, and operating system (sometimes), where appropriate.

Advanced IP Scanner also checks the ports of each device and finds HTTP, HTTPS, FTP and RDP resources, as well as shared folders. Double-clicking any of these will open that resource with your default client.

Right-clicking a device reveals even more options. You can remotely shut down or start a PC via Wake-On-Lan; there's simple integration with the standard Ping, Tracert, Telnet and SSH tools; and if you've installed Radmin (a commercial remote administration tool from the same developer) then you'll be able to access the system, control it and transfer files.

Finally, a convenient Favourites system makes it easy for you to save any remote devices which interest you. In future you'll be able to scan just those, rather than the entire network.