Pinging

How can I figure out the IPs of all computers in the network? When I use UNIX based OS, it is very easy, I just ping the broadcast number and I got replies from all computers, but when I try to do that in Windows based OS, I receive only one reply and it says it is from computer with IP address ending with 255.

Ahh *raises his wizened eyes*, this mistake has happened before... not all systems will respond to a ping to the broadcast address.. you are not seeing all the systems in the network.. if you dig through the forums by searching for terms like 'ping broadcast address' etc you will find a lengthy debate on this that tfs started long ago..

That reply from a computer with ip x.x.x.255 is a reply from the broadcast address.. technicaly if you then ran arp -a you should see all the people who responded.. but this is not the case..

the only way to ennumerate hosts on the network is to actually ping them all .. ping every single IP.. don't gasp lad.. thats why we have Nmap or any other network scanner.. almost all will let you ping a range.. Nmap is just nicer than all of them.. if you want to skip the manual page..
nmap -sP 192.168.0.* -v

should work fine for you..
You can also try out Superscan, Solarwinds etc etc

I started???

Why am I always to blame here? :lol:

Hey, its just the way you are you cant help it !! and we dont mind now do we. hehe

Ahh, the crosses we are forced to bear. :lol:

Its a dirty job ... but someones gota do it