SoftPerfect WiFi Guard program and more

General system Applications
1

Good evening,
I need some information, please. It’s about this: on my Endeavour (KDE), I would like to install the SoftPerfect WiFi Guard program https://www.softperfect.com/products/wifiguard/ .

Unfortunately, it hasn’t been updated for a while and requires gtk2 to work, which is only available on the AUR, but I’m afraid to download it from there. Does anyone know a way to get gtk2 to install on Endeavour? Or an alternative program that I can install without difficulty.

I already have Arp-scan installed https://github.com/royhills/arp-scan, but I don’t like it. SoftPerfect WiFi Guard for Linux is only available as a .deb package (maybe also .rpm I don’t remember), I managed to get the package for Endeavour WiFi-Guard/softperfect-wifi-guard-25.12-1-x86_64.pkg.tar.zst with the help of Gemini via an Arch package (or command, I don’t remember) that transforms .deb files into .pkg.tar.zst
Thanks for your attention

2

There probably isn’t a safer way to get gtk2 than from AUR.

Even if you found it somewhere it would be in a 3rd party repository that you would then need to trust.

Further, why would you not be willing to trust the AUR due to the risk but be willing to take the risk of running a questionably maintained application and the completely unmaintained libraries it depends on? The latter seems at least as risky as the former and substantially riskier if you just take a few easy precautions when using AUR.

For the record, there is zero chance I would be willing to use an application that is so poorly maintained that it still needs gtk2. Especially a binary application.

3

Hi Dalto, thanks for your comment. I highlighted SoftPerfect WiFi Guard because I really like the program. I used it on Debian until recently without any problems. It’s not a must-have; I’m open to an alternative (as noted in my first post), but I haven’t found anything decent that I like, and I was hoping to hear about alternatives here. I’d prefer a program with a GUI, but it’s also fine from the terminal if it’s readable. Arp-scan works from the terminal and does its job, but I don’t like the way it displays data. Other “decent” programs I know only work on Windows.

4

Have to go with @dalto on this one. Installing any program/software that is not properly maintained is a security risk no matter where it comes from.

I don’t know your exact needs but check out this and this.

5

What about Angry IP Scanner? It is available as a flatpak.

You would need to add the “MAC Address”, “MAC Vendor” and “Web detect” columns before scanning.

6

If there is Windows software you like, you could also see if it works in Bottles.

7

WiFi Guard will alert you if your network is used without your knowledge. It is a specialised monitoring application that runs through your network at set intervals and reports immediately if it has found any unrecognised connected devices that could possibly belong to an intrude

So in short, this program would only do an client level inspection other network clients within your own network. It won’t prevent bad actors utilizing your Wifi. It will report so if there is an unrecognized device.

Access control could be realized easily on the router level. Only allow already known devices, assign them the very same ip via DHCP. And don’t accept new DHCP requests. If you’ve got many visitors that beg for some Wifi, make use of an restricted Guest Wifi enviroment that would isolate your own network devices.

In short, if there is a program around whose the developers couldn’t justify the effort to keep GTK up to date, then you probably won’t need it in the first place.

If the access controls of your Wifi router are lacking an easy to use UI, I would suggest to look at the problem at the router level, not on the client side.

8

@rubi1200: Thanks for your input. I really liked the program https://github.com/Chleba/netscanner and installed it, but it doesn’t work, or I’m just not familiar with it. I’ve attached the commands I used; they might be helpful:

[bonheur@Endeavour-HP-Z1-G8 ~]$ sudo netscanner

With this command ($ sudo netscanner) the program opens but I can’t do anything, the arrows at the bottom right don’t respond and I don’t see any menu, only one window shows “eno1” and “lo”

  • I also gave the “ip addr” and “ip link” commands but I don’t know if it’s appropriate to show the output here
  • [bonheur@Endeavour-HP-Z1-G8 ~]$ sudo netscanner -i eth0 -r 192.168.1.0/24
    error: unexpected argument ‘-i’ found

Usage: netscanner [OPTIONS]

For more information, try ‘–help’.
[bonheur@Endeavour-HP-Z1-G8 ~]$ sudo netscanner -i wlan0 -r 192.168.1.0/24
error: unexpected argument ‘-i’ found

Usage: netscanner [OPTIONS]

For more information, try ‘–help’.
[bonheur@Endeavour-HP-Z1-G8 ~]$

[bonheur@Endeavour-HP-Z1-G8 ~]$ sudo netscanner --help
Network Scanner

Usage: netscanner [OPTIONS]

Options:
-t, –tick-rate Tick rate, i.e. number of ticks per second [default: 1]
-f, –frame-rate Frame rate, i.e. number of frames per second [default: 10]
-h, –help Print help
-V, –version Print version
[bonheur@Endeavour-HP-Z1-G8 ~]$

[bonheur@Endeavour-HP-Z1-G8 ~]$ sudo netscanner --version
netscanner 0.6.43

Authors: Chleba chlebik@gmail.com

Config directory: /root/.config/netscanner
Data directory: /root/.local/share/netscanner

[bonheur@Endeavour-HP-Z1-G8 ~]$ pacman -Q cargo
rust 1:1.97.1-1

EDIT July 27.2026

I think I’ve figured out how to use it. I can use the Tab key to highlight windows (1, 2, 3, and 4), but I still haven’t figured out why it only shows the computer connected via Ethernet and the router, not the phone connected via Wi-Fi. My reference program (Softperfect WiFi Guard) shows all connected devices when it starts up, which is what I’m looking for.

This is the NetScanner screen: https://postimg.cc/user/uboat59

9

@dalto: I know it, I don’t like it :face_with_hand_over_mouth:

10

@ 1093i3511: Yes, thanks. I knew that, but I just want to easily check for alien connections with one click. I can also do this by logging into the router, but having a program that launches directly on the desktop is much more convenient. Then, if I see alien presence, I can simply change the password to resolve the issue.

11

Won’t it mostly be too late by then?

Does your router not support whitelisting?

12

@dalto: If I describe my router to you, you’ll roll on the floor laughing. For example, there’s no UPnP section, no DMZ section. (I’m sure the provider modified the firmware.)