
IP scanning is something that conjures up thoughts of nefarious hackers trying to find a vulnerable point on a network, but there are also totally legitimate reasons to do it. For example, you might find yourself dealing with a network that uses dynamic IP addresses, yet you need to remotely connect to a specific computer with VNC, or some other such remoting software.
Angry IP Scanner can make the job of scanning a set of IP addresses as simple as pie, and you'll be connecting to the right computer within moments to install the update, or help the user with their issue. It uses muilti-threading to speed up the process of scanning many IPs, making it about as quick as IP scanning can be.
The interface in Angry IP Scanner is as simple as it could be for a tool like this; the single-pane interface allows you to enter a range of IPs to be scanned, and once you start the scan, the IPs will scroll by in the window below.
In fact, the worst thing about Angry IP Scanner is the utility's name. Beware of offending your IT department's policies or at the very least their sensibilities if they happen to find this file sitting on your computer. Since it consists of a single executable file, it can be run just as easily from a USB memory stick as from the local hard drive.
Angry IP Scanner is a free Windows download.