Referer indicates the URL from which the request was referred.

User-Agent contains information about the browser used.

(As you can see, in Response message, all we get back is “Not Modified”)

If-Modified-Since is one of the header messages, it indicates that the request is just to check if the URL is modified since the time specified.

The protocol in this case will obviously be HTTP.

URL indicates the URL to which the request is being sent.

GET indicates the method used (GET or POST).

Observe the following details in the text that is visible. The one you choose might be completely different but the basics remain the same. I will just try to explain the packet that I chose to analyze in this example. Here’s how to read the details from the new window. To be more accurate, the “request” sent and the “response” received.

A new window will open with all the details of data sent and received. Right click on the packet which you wish to analyze and click on “Follow TCP Stream”. You can save it for future use as well, so that you don’t need to remember it everytime you wish to filter packets. Paste the following expression in it, = GET or = POST and hit enter. Now as we need to find the GET and POST packets (which follow the HTTP protocol) we need to set an appropriate filter for it. This helps us filter out only those packets that we need and leave the rest. Observe the protocol of the packets, it tells us what protocol is being used to transfer the packet. Immediately the packets start getting captured and you can view them in the Wireshark window.

Uncheck Capture all in promiscuous mode.

You will now need to configure the capture options.

Refer the screenshot below if you are unable to locate the button. Once you have installed Wireshark, run the application. It is not only informative and helps in troubleshooting but it is fun to watch what is going on behind the scenes.

You can download wireshark for free, so I would recommend everyone to install it. This helps me analyze the exact data that is being sent to a particular website. I don’t know how others use it but I use to monitor the GET and POST requests that are being sent from my machine. Wireshark is used to analyze inbound and outbound packets from your system.

Wireshark http response