The Dude is a complex network monitoring and mapping software that once installed, is able not only to detect your local network and generate a visual representation of its structure, but also to perform different monitoring tasks among others. Once you specify the IP address range to be scanned, the program will automatically draw and layout a network map, allowing you to view the whole structure (PCs, routers, file servers etc.) and also make your own customizations.
You can add new items (devices, networks, submaps), change their position using the drag & drop method, customize the appearance of devices in terms of label, shape and font and connect nodes using drawing tools. Moreover, you can create your own maps and export them to BMP, JPEG, PNG, PDF and other file formats.
The Dude can perform various network monitoring actions such as ping checks, running services monitoring, traceroute, port probes, send beep, flash or popup notifications whenever a major change occurs and others.
The Dude is licensed as freeware for PC or laptop with Windows 32 bit and 64 bit operating system. It is in network analyzer category and is available to all software users as a free download.