Uses for monitor mode include: geographical packet analysis, observing of widespread traffic and acquiring knowledge of Wi-Fi technology through hands-on experience.
Software such as KisMAC or Kismet, in combination with packet analyzers that can read pcap files, provide a user interface for passive wireless network monitoring.
Monitor mode support in NDIS 6 is an optional feature and may or may not be implemented in the client adapter driver.
[citation needed] For versions of Windows prior to Windows Vista, some packet analyzer applications such as Wildpackets' OmniPeek and TamoSoft's CommView for WiFi provide their own device drivers to support monitor mode.
Libpcap 1.0.0 and later provides an API to select monitor mode when capturing on those operating systems.