Hidden Wi-Fi Diagnostics Application In OS X Lion

WankerWeasel writes "The latest version of Apple's operating system, OS X 10.7 Lion, has a hidden Wi-Fi Diagnostics application that allows the user to view information about their wireless network performance, record performance and also capture raw frames. Hidden away in the System folder the application is meant for Apple tech diagnostic use but is also very useful for any user interested in diagnosing wi-fi problems or checking network performance."

Comments

Hidden while useful?

[hcs_$reboot]

Most of the users would not understand the signal / noise graph and data anyway ; that feature would not contribute to the user-friendly interface image the Mac OS X has.
Any true admin should have a look in this "hidden" directory anyway.

Re:Hidden while useful?

[thegarbz]

It should be in Applications/Utilities, along with other apps that not every user would understand like Console and RAID Utility.

I could not disagree more. By putting all those utilities in a folder you essentially create a clusterfuck equivalent just doing a directory listing in the system folder. None of this is hidden by the way. It doesn't occur to you to look System/Library/CoreServices? Does it occur to you to look for ping.exe in c:\windows\SysWOW64\ ?

Why should any of this be linked? It's important to you so Google would often suffice. Look at a typical Windows 7 machine. There are 300 (exactly) applications in the SysWOW64 directory, the vast majority of them powerful, and the vast majority of them no one will ever have a need to execute.

yawn

[pbjones]

undocumented is not hidden. There is also a bucket load of standard UNIX apps there for you to play with too.

Re:Hidden?

[jo_ham]

"Hidden" because it's not listed in the Utilities folder.

So, about as hidden as putting something in a room and closing the door. Oh look, it's hidden!

This really isn't really front page news. It's a nice tidbit for a hints site, but it's not trail blazing news.

Ping

[thegarbz]

So there's an application in the System folder that isn't in the manual and this makes the news? Are we going to run an article tomorrow about this beauty that I just found: C:\Windows\SysWOW64\ping.exe, entitled "OMG we just found an application capable of sending ping request hidden deep in the directory structure of windows?

How about the 299 other Applications in the system directory in Windows that may not be as well known as ping.exe? Should we run an article on powercfg.exe, the application which is great for diagnosing a vast array of powermanagement issues in windows?

I'm waiting for tomorrow's shock article: terminal program hidden in /bin/bash, will open another bash prompt for your bash prompt, this may double your productivity!

*yawn* Slow news day.

Re:Ping

[StoneyMahoney]

What he meant to say:

"I found this article to be such a waste of the time of the author, poster, server, RSS aggregator, RSS client, and (of course) me that I thought I'd waste even more of my (and their) time by posting a scathing reply condemning the tiny grain of sensationalism injected into the summary instead of just skimming over it in the index of the general news channel and then not opening it or reading it."

Some of us do find this stuff interesting. I do tech support for a large number of Mac-based creative companies and agencies and don't have time to go ferreting around every nook and cranny of an OS every time there's a new release, patch, hot-fix or update. I don't know exactly how useful this will be in time but it certainly made me take note. No more installing Kismac on client's machines just to troubleshoot their WLAN dead spots.

Re:Ping

[drinkypoo]

And windows is different? At least the mac ships with a command line worth shit, it took microsoft until he release of powershell to even start playing the same sport on that front, let alone in the ballpark.

Uh WTF? This is possibly the dumbest argument not involving cars I've ever heard on slashdot. How many years did it take the Mac to have an OS worth more than a nickel, one that actually has a command line?

You can bag on Windows all day if you like, there's lots of good reasons to do so, but this is one of the many places where Apple trailed Microsoft for over a decade.

Re:Ping

[angel'o'sphere]

You seem not to get he point? You must be a windows user then.

The Mac application is at a wrong place, it is at simple as that. The /Library tree and the /Users/user/Library tree is not supposed to hold any applications (except you want to call executeables like "java" or "python" applications.

As one of the parents pointed out it belongs into /Applications/Utilities

Your analogy about the Windows System folder is completely flawed anyway. As everyone who has a clue about operation systems will tell you: you don't put parts of the os, dynamic libraries, maintanance applications (like regedit.exe), end user applications (like notepad.exe) and admin tools (like ping.exe) into ONE DIRECTORY.

And furthermore: you certainly don't have this single directory on the PATH for everyone who uses the system.

Re:Who Cares?

[Farmer Tim]

Some do, most don't. Same as Windows, really.

Re:Who Cares?

[gnasher719]

Never used a Mac and never will if I can help it, however, I doubt Mac users care about or understand such stuff.

You won't be missed.

Off-topic advice

[Samantha Wright]

Just a pedant's note: looking in SysWOW64 shouldn't occur to you at all. Despite the name, it's the 32-bit version of the 64-bit files, which actually live in the awkwardly-named system32. When a 32-bit program runs, SysWOW64 is mapped onto system32, just like Program Files (x86) is mapped onto Program Files, and parts of the registry are remapped (although I don't have the exact key name on hand, it's something like [HKCU|HKLM]\software\wow64node).

Re:Off-topic advice

[TheRaven64]

WOW stands for Windows-On-Windows. It's the layer for running Windows apps on a newer version of Windows. So, the name does make sense, it's the system directory for WOW64, which is an application for running Windows on Windows64.

Re:Off-topic advice

[Anonymous Coward]

WOW stands for Windows-On-Windows. It's the layer for running Windows apps on a newer version of Windows. So, the name does make sense, it's the system directory for WOW64, which is an application for running Windows on Windows64.

Sounds kinky. No wonder it's hidden away.

Re:Off-topic advice

[firewrought]

Wow, you just reminded me why I love Microsoft. Their designs are so simple and logical.

And how would you implement transparent backwards-compatibility for 32-bit apps?

Who cares? Sounds like you do.

[CountBrass]

I'd suggest someone who reads a thread and then posts to it. They care.

I'm guessing you're a closet apple 'fanboi' who just lacks the money to indulge.

I assume.

[CountBrass]

You must have bought your lower UID on ebay.

Now that was an insult ;)

In any case, six digit and six digit. Not that much lower. And mines only six digits because I binned my original /. account as the user name was my real name and didn't fancy being stalked.

Finder

[GrahamCox]

In the same location I found a hidden app called "Finder"! I wonder what it does?

Wow, that's truely useful!

[ilsaloving]

It amazes me how many sourpusses are logged in right now whining about how this isn't news, doesn't belong on the front page, etc etc. If you see an article that you are not interested in then, and I accidentally stumbled upon this amazing technique after much trial an error, you can SKIP over that article! I know I know, I'm sure you're as shocked as I was when I discovered this!

Meanwhile in the real world, those of us who work in a moderately noisy EMF environment now have a fantastic way of diagnosing exactly why the Wifi suddenly cut out during a download when it was Working Fine Before(tm). I'm glad someone made this discovery because it wouldn't have occurred to me to look for it myself.

Re:Hidden?

[Raffaello]

Finder.app is in the same directory so it's not exactly a hidden location to anyone who knows much about Mac OS X.

Re:Hidden?

[pknoll]

That directory also houses applications that are not usually directly invoked by the user, but from another event (apps like Installer, Bluetooth Setup Assistant, Keyboard Setup Assistant, and so forth, most of which are started by taking action within the System Preferences app.)

I'm not certain how you'd invoke Wi-Fi diagnostics, but it might be part of the troubleshooting path which also contains the Network Setup Assistant.

Assist Me...

[Sez Zero]

This is probably the App that runs when you are on the Network pane of System Preferences, click the "Assist Me" button and pick Diagnostics for your Wi-Fi network.

So, not really hidden.

Re:Uhm.

[angel'o'sphere]

The information might be trivial. But I appreciate to know about it know. Very likely I had not discovered it on my own when I upgrade my OS in a few weeks.

A lot of hidden apps in /System

[guruevi]

Many Mac/Win sysadmin may not know that you can control just about any Mac application using LDAP or Active Directory.

You can add /System/Library/CoreServices/Managed Client.app to WGM and you'll gain access to a lot of the MCX which you can then modify and apply to your groups. A lot of other Applications can be added as well and the settings managed like AD's Group Policy but a bit easier to use.

There are also Kerberos Ticket viewers, you can run security on command line to manage SSL Certificates.

Also install the Developer Tools for some nifty utilities, BlueTooth sniffers, Audio Lab which with you can fairly simple create a little application that can capture and send system audio over the network to another computer.