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Where can a novice get help setting up Wireshark?

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I want to use Wireshark to keep an eye on my family's activity while at home; phone calls, text messages, websites, etc. I've installed Wireshark, but have no idea how to set it up. When I open the program it looks like Latin to me. Where can I get help to setup up the program for my simple purpose? I've tried to read the User's Guide and other guides on the internet, but I can't understand any of them. Please please help.

asked 27 Apr '17, 07:52

BWnBama's gravatar image

BWnBama
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accept rate: 0%


One Answer:

1

I would attempt to build trust through communication. Gathering intelligence this way probably won't help them trust you any more than you trust them.

However, if Wireshark is still the route you'd like to take, I would probably "Capture using a machine-in-the-middle" and place the machine between your router and your cable modem, DSL modem, etc. If your modem and router are an integrated box, you can't do this--you might have to go with "Capture using a MITM (Man-In-The-Middle) software".

This won't capture phone calls and text messages. While you can use other software along with Wireshark to do that, I won't give you instructions on that because intercepting mobile-phone communication without permission is illegal (unless you work for the NSA, I guess).

Regarding the guides looking like Latin: This is because those guides are meant for super-users, software engineers, network technicians etc. If you'd like to learn the background knowledge you need for understanding the guides:

  1. Read some books computer networking
  2. Set up a Linux PC to experiment with. Read some books on Linux and POSIX operating systems
  3. Read some more books on TCP/IP and HTTP specifically

This is what I did. It took me several years.

answered 28 Apr '17, 11:17

watkipet's gravatar image

watkipet
21114
accept rate: 0%

edited 28 Apr '17, 11:20