NetworkMagic Network Management Tool

The problem with home networks is that they are sophisticated, complicated and full of long character strings you need to copy exactly as they appear. There's MAC addresses, IP addresses, masks and subnets. Passwords, work groups, computer names, and who knows what else? All I wanted was to safely share an internet connection and maybe a few files.
NetworkMagic does it and does it well.

General Features

• Simple Network Map
• Simple Network Management
• Sharing Made Easy
• Diagnosis Made Simple
• Identification Information Made Available

What's Missing

• Network activity at a glance.
• Ability to dismiss alerts without acting.
• Internal Internet Activity Logs

More about General Features...

Network Map tells me at a glance what's connected . My network is not complicated but it's not easy to understand. Basically, it's a router and three or four computers. But sometimes things change, like a visitor wants to connect. Or I want to keep my neighbors out, or let them in. The point is that I'd like to know who is connected. Back to top...

Maybe we want to share files across the network, trust me, "sneaker net" is alive and well in our house. I'm forever trotting around with some snippet of info, URL, address, password, etc. Read on...

Sharing Made Easy. I've been able to share files in our home network before but it was not easy. Too many things to change, too much to noodle. With NM I was able to share a whole folder tree in less than a minute. This alone is worth the paid version. Back to top...

Diagnosis Made Simple. Sometimes diagnosing a problem is nothing more than following a check list: you can create your own, you can follow tech support's list, you can do it by hit, by miss, or by golly. NM has built in checklists, maybe at the end something is broken but you've followed all the steps and eliminated the obvious. Back to top...

Identification Information Made Available. When I first installed our router the addresses were a mystery to me. I'm the sort of guy that likes to know what's happening in my own house, invisible or not. So I made lists and charts and tried to keep track. In the end it did not matter one whit. But I still wanted to know. NM tells me everything. And if it changes I still know what it is: IP address, MAC address, Computer name, and more... Back to top...

More about What's Missing...

Network activity at a glance. Seems like a basic thing to me, how much uploading and downloading is going on? Who is doing it? Turns out that I have free tools that tell me this stuff but I think it should be integrated into NetworkMagic. NetPerSec has a tray icon that shows me constantly what's happening; it also has a window that opens with more details.

I also have a tool called Ethereal that will tell me who is doing what but it's really hard to decipher. Be nice to know who is doing what. Back to top...

Ability to dismiss alerts without acting. I have three Microsoft updates that have been appearing on the radar for a while, like months. For whatever reason they will not download and install. Moreover, they don't even apply to me. All that notwithstanding, PC-cillin dutifully tells me every week that the updates need to be applied and I dismiss the notice. NetMagic tells me the same thing but I can't tell it to go away, the shield is always there and distracts me from noticing a real alert. Back to top...

Internal Internet Activity Logs. NetMagic's paid version will email to me a daily report of all internet activity. Click here for a sample report. However, as I read it, all of my network activity will be reported to PureNetworks and could be disclosed to others. I don't want that and don't see the need; log it here, report it here. Back to top...