Network Magic

I’ve never taken a formal class on the finer points of networking, but I have managed to learn enough to set up a home network. But it was not the easiest process, and I’m sure I’m not the only one who has encountered difficulty with this project. So when I found a program that promised to act as a central point to setup, manage and even fix my network, I thought I would check it out. So this week, I’ll be sharing with you: Network Magic v4.0

Installation is very quick, due to minimal options. Just agree to the license, choose a program folder, and the files are copied. Finishing will automatically launch the application and its wizard. Note that Network Magic will add two desktop icons, a system tray icon and an entry in the Start Menu.

The wizard will guide you through monitoring, connecting, sharing files and protecting your network. The first step lets you know that NM will need internet access to send anonymous statistics to and receive updates from the website, so any firewall you may have might flag it. A link to the privacy policy is supplied, should that interest you. I had no problems with NM and Windows Firewall. NM will then detect your router and ask for your router’s username and password. I did not feel comfortable giving these to a new program, but thankfully you can skip this step, so I did. Then you can name your PC for identification on the network. If a network already exists, your PC’s name will be filled in already. Changing the name for the program will not change it for Windows, so feel free to call each PC anything you like. Next, it will tell you about the differences between the Premium (which you receive for 30 days) and the Free version; mainly file and printer sharing. Keep in mind that Network Magic cannot prevent Windows from controlling these options, only the free version program from using them. So do not worry about updating Network Magic to Premium just to keep printing over a network. Finally, you need an e-mail address, but the message is nothing important, so feel free to use a junk e-mail account. Be sure to set one up with a free web mail provider if you haven’t already for just this sort of situation.

While the convenient in-program file sharing expires in the free version, the other features still make Network Magic on a compelling package for anyone new to networking. By breaking down your devices and helping fix problems, Network Magic can save a networking novice from the complexity and confusion that networking can bring on. Check it out on www.networkmagic.com

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Stephen
For the past four days I have been experimenting with Network Magic (4.5.728.1.1-Pure0)trial download and have been very impresed. It has patched together computers that have Windows 2000, XP, and Vista. I find that great, but to make it even better, I have different AVS/firewall software, that has been worked through. There is only one thing that has been touchy, and I don’t think the designers could have seen this coming. I have one computer that has two operating systems (one different hard drives), neither one connecting to the other in any way, and separated by an A/B switch. Provided they didn’t have the same MAC and IP addresses, both systems would probably have separate entries on the GUI. I will probably be purchasing my 5-system license within days. I would highly recommend this product.
John P
Network Magic stuffed my XP PC (connected direct to internet only) after install and reboot. Now my Pc just hangs and I’ve been forced to rebuild it. They can keep their product. I’ll be fixing my problems via forums from now on rather than paying extra to rix what should just work and then having to rebuild my PC.
Dabhanddave
This software is awful, it was surreptitiously installed as part of the setup of my Linksys Router. It turned my existing perfectly functioning network to jelly without even asking me if I wished to install it. It then had the cheek to tell me that I needed to purchase an upgraded version to get perfectly normal functions working that worked perfectly fine before. Things like using more than 3 computers on the network, printer sharing etc. These are perfectly normal features of Windows, why would I want to pay to have Network Magic re-enable them after Network Magic broke them? When you uninstall the program it strips out all of your network settings and leaves your previously fine network completely gutted.
It is essentially a corporate virus.