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Are there netcat-like tools for Windows which are not quarantined as malware?

Fresh3 days ago
Mar 15, 2026278313 views
Confidence Score1%
1%

Problem

I used to use netcat for Windows to help track down network connectivity issues. However these days my anti-virus software (Symantec - but I understand others display similar behaviour) quarantines as malware. Are there any alternative applications which provide at least the following functionality: can connect to an open TCP socket and send data to it which is typed on the console can open and listen on a TCP socket and print received data to the console ? I don't need the 'advanced' features (which are possibly the reason for the quarantining) such as port scanning or remote execution.

Error Output

netcat.exe

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Fix for: Are there netcat-like tools for Windows which are not quarantined as malware?

Low Risk

ncat seems to be exactly what you're looking for. It's an implementation of netcat available on the official Nmap site with the port scanning feature removed. Doesn't raise any virus alerts either. From the "Ncat Users' Guide": Ncat is our modern reinvention of the venerable Netcat (nc) tool released by Hobbit in 1996. While Ncat is similar to Netcat in spirit, they don't share any source code. Instead, Ncat makes use of Nmap's well optimized and tested networking libraries. Compatibility with …

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