Where to download — safely

A copy of a network tool on a third-party host is a copy nobody can vouch for — and network tools are among the most impersonated software on the internet, for the obvious reason that people run them with administrative rights on corporate networks. So this page does one thing: it points you at the source, and shows you how to confirm that what you downloaded is really what the source published.

Verify the file before you run it

Thirty seconds, four checks, and they are the difference between running the vendor's program and running somebody's repackage of it. Do this every time, including on updates.

1. The address is exactly right. The address bar reads the vendor's own domain over HTTPS — not a hyphenated look-alike, not a different top-level domain, not a "download portal" that wraps the file in its own installer.
2. The size looks like a real program. A genuine installer is usually tens of megabytes. A two-megabyte "download manager" that then fetches the real file is not the program — close it.
3. The digital signature is valid. On Windows, right-click the file →Properties → Digital Signatures and confirm it is signed by the vendor. No signatures tab at all usually means no signature: delete it.
4. The hash matches, where one is published. Compare the SHA-256 the vendor lists for the current build against the file you downloaded.

And two things a legitimate installer never asks for: to disable your antivirus, or to accept a bundled toolbar or "offer." Either one means you are in the wrong place.

Get-AuthenticodeSignature .\installer.exe | Select-Object Status, SignerCertificate
# Status should read: Valid

Get-FileHash .\installer.exe -Algorithm SHA256
# compare the value against the one the vendor publishes

Why antivirus sometimes flags a network scanner

Discovery tools are dual-use, and a few endpoint products classify them as "potentially unwanted" on that basis alone. That is a policy judgement about the category, not a detection of malware in the file. Verify the signature, and if your organisation's policy is to block scanners, respect it and have the conversation rather than quietly adding an exclusion. And scan only networks and hosts you own or have explicit written permission to assess — see ourauthorization checklist.

The tools, and where each one comes from

Grouped by what they do. "Where to get it" always means the developer's official site — we don't sit between you and the vendor, and we don't host a copy.