WinPcap - What is it, what is it for and how to uninstall it
What is WinPcap and what is it for, this interesting software for connecting network layers
There are many programs today, some developed for very specific segments. The WinPcap tool It is a very specific software that is designed to work under Windows 10. This tool is widely used in industry for connection between network layers in Windows environments. In this article we will explain what it is, what it is for and how to uninstall it.
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Table of Contents
What is WinPcap
Industry standard tool that allows access to connections between layers of a network (connectivity and selection between two host systems) in Windows environments. It enables capturing and transmitting network packets that bypass the protocol stack, including kernel-level packet filtering, a network statistics engine, and support for remote packet capture.
What is WinPcap for
WinPcap has a driver that extends the operating system to provide low-level network access. It also has a library that allows easy access to the low-level network layers. This library has the Windows version of the popular Unix libcap API.
Indicate that this software has been the packet capture and filtering engine for many open source tools and commercial networks. This tool has protocol analyzers, network monitors, network intrusion detection systems, sniffers, traffic generators and network testers. Some of these tools, such as Wireshark, Nmap or Snort, are widely used in network management.
Limitations of this software
Unfortunately this tool has quite a few limitations when it comes to limitations. The most important ones are
- Does not support PPP connections
- Does not support VPN connections
- Visual Basic incompatibility
- It does not work with personal firewalls as it cannot capture all or much of the adapter traffic.
- Incompatibility with Java
- It only supports physical interfaces, so it does not support loopback
- There may be incompatibilities with wireless adapters
The origin of his bad reputation
Although WinPcap is completely legitimate and widely used, it has gained a bad name. The reason for this is due to a poor distribution method. It seems that after installing it, it installed free programs or shareware.
Another reason for its bad reputation is that it controls the actions carried out by the user. WinPcap redirects traffic to unwanted sites that contain ads, occasionally quite intrusive. It can generate various problems such as slowdowns, quite annoying pop-up ads and other such problems. Also, this software is quite resistant to removal.
For these reasons, many computer security analysts rate this software as AdWare. It is not uncommon for WinPcap to be the focus of discussion in specialized cybersecurity forums.
WinPcap has also been reported to make modifications to the system. It seems to inject components into Chrome and Firefox, generating annoying advertisements, banners, pop-ups, or hyperlinks.
How to uninstall WinPcap
The WinPcap uninstall process is quite simple, it is the same as with other applications. The steps are:
- We must open the Control panel
- Now we seek Applications and we agree
- A list will appear where all the applications installed on our computer.
- These are in alphabetical order, so we must go down until we find WinPcap
- Click on this and we will see the option to uninstall
- We go forward until the uninstallation is finished
To verify the uninstallation, we go to the system folder of our computer. We look for the WinPcap folder and inside we must find the files packet. * And wpcap.dll. We have to verify the dates of the files, verifying that they correspond with the installation of the software. WinPcap reports that malware controlling this software silently has been detected. If there is an infection, it may not appear in Applications and the dlls are missing.
How to remove extensions
Occasionally this software may install extensions on our web browsers. After uninstalling we must eliminate these remaining extensions. We simply have to go to the browser settings and see the installed extensions. Among them there should be one from WinPcap. We delete it, accept the changes and restart the browser.
If we are not sure that it has been completely removed, we can pass the SpyHunter or Dr Web tools, to verify the cleanliness.
