Ethereal will capture and decode many major protocols to reveal what's happening packet by packet and the time in milliseconds between packets. So if a user's client slows down, it will let you see when the user transmitted a request to a server, how long it takes the server to respond, and how long the client is taking to acknowledge a query from the server. If one of these processes is excessively long, Ethereal will clue you in to the source of the problem. For example, if packets are getting dropped and retransmitted from the server, it can point to a problem with the server, or to a problem on the network between the client and the server.
Ethereal does have its limitations, and even low-end (less than $1,000) commercial products, like those from Network Instruments or WildPackets, will add many useful features. For comparison:
>> Ethereal doesn't always have the latest decodes, and those it has aren't necessarily easy to read. Commercial products provide extensive decodes and color coding to make them more readable.
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