How do you use WireShark?/How best to monitor a program's internet access?

I have a program which downloads something from the internet, and I want to find out where it downloads it from. I did a little research and found that the program to do this with was Ethereal. However, I then found it was discontinued and that WireShark was a continuation of the project or something similar. So I downloaded and installed WireShark Portable, and now I want to know, how do I use it? I just want to be able to see where the earlier mentioned program downloads the file from, can anyone tell me how to do this, or point me in the right direction please?

EDIT: I am no longer sure that WireShark is the best tool for the job. Can anyone suggest another safe tool which will allow me to monitor exactly what a particular program accesses online (servers it connects to, files it downloads etc.)?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/26/2009 11:06PM by SifJar.

Wireshark is a packet tracer we use it at work to trace packets from PC to server and across local network, but you can use it for that too. I haven't used it in a while but basically you turn it on and then download what you want and the stop it and then dump the files it collects. You will have to weed through the standard network activity to locate what you want though. It shouldnt be too hard because the info you want should be an "outside IP address".

I ended up using Proximodo instead, which turned out much easier. In the end, I found an even easier way though (only after I'd finished mind): Open the .exe in a hex editor and search for "http". Tried it and found the address in seconds. But I already had what I wanted. Anyway, thanks for your advice.