nmap step 1(begginer)

Your first nmap lesson.
Nmap is a port scanner, you can use it to find open ports. Once you find the open ports you can discover whether or not they are exploitable. Nmap can also be helpful in network troubleshooting or determining what os is behind what ip. But this tutorial just explains the basic scanning portion. You will need to download nmap. Nmap is at:
http://nmap.org/download.html
When you install it, it will come with WinPCAP which updates your TCP/IP stack. It will install this as part of the install. The version of NMAP you choose may come with a GUI, don’t use it. Use the cli.

Ok so after you get through installing nmap open the cmd. So start cmd, by hitting start, then run, then typing cmd. In vista you only need to hit start then type cmd. Now to aim nmap at your target you type:
nmap targetiporname
That will work for most targets, example:
nmap google.com
However that doesn’t work for all targets, some targets have ICMP(ping) turned off, and nmap pings a target to make sure it is up before scanning. So you may want to turn that feature off. So type:
nmap targetiporname –P0
Ok so that is a capital P and a zero. Usually I want to to know the OS my target is using as well so I do a
nmap targetiporname –P0 –O
And that is a capital O, so you should be able to scan your target now. I will right step 2 very soon, if you have any troubles with step 1 just get in contact with me.