Here’s a list of 5 Wifi hotspot scanner software for Windows 10 which you can use to scan surrounding area for available Wifi networks. Windows offers its own built-in wifi scanner that lets you detect and connect to WiFi networks close by. What it lacks is a easy way how to get info on the speeds that a given network provides and also what kind of encryption networks use, so that you can know if it’s safe to connect and use a particular wifi network (it’s not safe if the easily crackable WEP encryption is used).
Wifi scanner software from the list down below fixes that issue.
WifiInfoView
WifiInfoView is a wifi hotspot scanner software published by the famous NirSoft, and like a lot of other NirSoft applications, it’s a small portable utility that runs right away after clicking on the executable, no installation is required.
Available wifi networks are displayed in the form of a list. I only have the one near me, my own network, that’s why the list looks rather empty. All the aforementioned info about wifi networks can be accessed by scrolling to the right, each column has a new piece of info. There you’ll find info like network type, signal quality, frequency used, channel that the network occupies, channel width and more. List of networks can be exported as HTML, either as individual items, or the entire list at once.
Get WifiInfoView.
WiFi Hotspot Scanner
WiFi Hotspot Scanner is not as advanced as WifiInfoView, but you can still use this wifi hotspot scanner software to get a better idea what networks around you have to offer.
Small drawback of WiFi Hotspot Scanner is that it needs to be installed in order to work. Be careful during installation not to install addons and toolbars which the installer comes bundled with. List of available networks is displayed right away after starting the application. Additional scans can be started by clicking on the “Start Wi-Fi Scan” button. Info given about detected networks includes stuff like security encryption used, channel used, network type (speed), MAC address and more. Export of the list is possible by clicking on the “Export” button in the bottom right corner.
Get WiFi Hotspot Scanner.
Also, have a look at 5 Free WiFi Network Monitoring Software.
Acrylic WiFi Free
Acrylic WiFi Free is in functionality similar to the previously mentioned WiFi Hotspot Scanner, but it adds a couple of interesting features.
For starters it has a signal quality diagram in real time that lets you keep track of signal drops. Next it has a wifi network quality tester, where it will give network ratings for things like channel quality, signal quality, signal to noise ratio, network security, transmission speed and adherence to network standards. Both of these features can be found at the bottom of the control panel on the screenshot above. List above has all the basic info about detected wifi networks.
Get Acrylic WiFi Free.
NetSurveyor
NetSurveyor expands the single diagram that Acrylic WiFi Free offers with a total of 6 different diagrams.
List of found wifi networks can be seen on top of the diagram area. Six tabs down below hide the available diagrams. First there’s the standard signal quality diagram (for the currently active Wifi network), followed by a network comparison bar chart, where wifi networks are compared based on quality. Remaining 4 diagrams and heatmaps show detailed analysis of wifi channel usage for a particular network and in general.
Get NetSurveyor.
Also, have a look at 5 Wifi Signal Strength Checker Apps For Android.
Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector
Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector has another unique approach to detecting wifi networks around you. This wifi hotspot scanner software for example has a radar, which gives you an approximate location where nearby Wifi networks are located in relation to you.
You can see the “radar” component in the top left corner of the control panel. The usual list of wifi networks detected by the scanner with accompanying info is available underneath it. Signal quality diagram for detecting signal drops takes up bottom of the interface. Note that to download Xirrus you will need to submit your email to get the download link.
Conclusion
WifiInfoView is interesting to me because it’s portable, small in size but offers a lot of useful information. Xirrus Wi-Fi Inspector on the other hand has a radar for detecting the locations of Wifi networks close by, that is pretty cool. Every hotspot scanner software from the list above is interesting in it’s own way. Leave a comment and tell me which software you ended up using.
