1. Cisco

Cisco's Network Magic is a software Swiss Army knife for your network. Network Magic's Network Activity and Intruder Tracking are the big blades that slice away your networking confusion and provide information on all connected devices, while other features like File Sharing and Wireless Protection are the cool corkscrew and toothpick extras you'd find on a Victorinox knife. New in version 5.5, Network Magic integrates with Cisco wireless routers and includes Trend Micro's Home Network Defender.

The latest version of Cisco's Network Magic is the best software tool we've ever seen for home networking. Cisco Network Magic latest. Network Magic Pro helps avoid the need for expensive technical support and. The name and logo of Softonic are registered trademarks.

And Cisco has also improved the parental controls since version 5.0, added support for 33 languages, and changed the interface's color scheme to blue. Okay, maybe the color change isn't a big deal, but what is already a great application has definitely gotten better in this upgrade, and, maybe best of all, the price has dropped $10 to $39.99 (direct). Right from the start, Network Magic displays the status of your network. As in previous versions, the software runs a scan of your network and displays a map of all connected devices.

It also finds security weaknesses in your computer. The app's Map window displays potential intruder devices and maintains a history of disconnected devices. The Map has gotten a new look in version 5.5: All devices are now connected around the router in a circle. The new diagram makes the network more scannable and devices more accessible. To the left of the Map you'll find the Tasks tab.

Once in the Tasks window, you can reach your computers, your network router, and all other connected network devices. Tasks also provides simplified access to common Windows networking tasks, such as printer and file sharing, and it even helps you change wireless security settings in your router.

Both the file-sharing and wireless security features are new to version 5.5. Most of the time, the main way you'll interact with Network Magic is not through the Map but through the Status Center, which is revamped in 5.5. Newcomers to Network Magic will be able to use the Status Center to view the health and security status of computers and track the activities of devices in a network without any training. The Status Center can also help troubleshoot network connections and even test the speed of your network on the Web. The layout of Status Center is now a little more spread out, so it's less cluttered and easier to comprehend. One new feature is status readout on your router's wireless protection, which shows whether the router is using Wi-Fi encryption.

Cisco has changed some of the wording in the tips and FAQs in the Advisor. The changes aren't a huge deal to an expert like me, but new users should find it easier to soak up networking knowledge. Some of the sites listed in the Navigation Links provide lots of material on how to manage your home network. Information in the FAQs can help users configure firewalls, change network access controls, and find out why they cannot share folders. Cisco does an excellent job of explaining the primary topics that affect most users.

The Internet Speed test has gotten a lot faster in this version. Cisco has added more servers around the country to help you determine the Internet speed more accurately. You can also use the app to find bottlenecks in your network. However, the test is more ideal than real. Cisco recommends shutting down applications that are streaming audio and video before testing the speed. This leaves the network in a plain vanilla state; consequently, bottlenecks that might occur while running applications are not detectable. Even so, it's still a pretty useful tool for detecting hardware bottlenecks.—.

Find a Network Term Most Popular Tutorials The most daunting part of upgrading to Windows Vista may be trying to figure out where in the layers of menus the networking and file-sharing options are hidden. It may not be something you do everyday, but having the supplies and know-how to whip up a network cable on the spot can be very handy. Seemingly minor and easily overlooked settings can still have profound security implications.

Affordable lpn programs. Here are some steps you can take to make sure your wired or wireless home router — and by extension, your network — is as secure as possible. Most Popular Reviews If you have a home network, you'll welcome the easy file sharing, remote access and the image-based backup features of Windows Home Server.

Iomega's fourth generation StorCenter Network Hard Drive brings many of the features found in higher-end storage devices down to an attractive price. This free tool delivers many of the same capabilities that you'd find in pricey network monitoring tools. As long as you don't mind tinkering, The Dude is a decent network utility that should be worth the download.

Cisco

Network Magic Pro 5.5 Author: Eric Geier Review Date: Network Magic is a software application that's supposed to help the average user set up and manage a network. Even though Windows Vista and 7 are much more network-friendly than previous editions, Network Magic provides a consistent interface across different Windows and Mac versions. Plus it offers additional tools, which are supposed to help the ordinary user connect, secure, share, and troubleshoot with ease. Let's see if they meet their promises. Last year, we. Now we'll review version 5.5. Among feature and interface changes, now owns and manages and its software suite.

Installing and Setting It Up After downloading the free trial from the website, I ran the setup file and installed it with no problems. After the installation, a wizard asks you a few questions, such as what personal folders and printers you want to share. Then you can create a password for the computer—new since our last review—which you must input before managing or monitoring with Network Magic.

Additionally, you can sign-up for e-mail reports on the computer's activity. Plus you can configure it to take scheduled pictures of the screen, so you have an idea of what the users are doing—also new since our last review. Connecting to Wireless Networks After the install and initial configuration, we wanted to connect to a Wi-Fi network. We found a Go Wireless button on the main Network Magic screen (see ) and shortcuts on the icon in the system tray. Either way brings you to the Wireless Connection Manger (see ). We found accessing and managing the connection settings was straightforward, but there's room for improvement. For example, to eliminate the amount of clicks, they could the list of detected networks pop-up when clicking on the system tray icon—like in Windows 7.

Troubleshooting Wizards One potential advantage of using Network Magic over the utilities built into Windows is having extra help troubleshooting network issues. So we wanted to test its troubleshooting abilities. As I'll explain, we simulated a firewall and protocol misconfiguration to see if Network Magic catches the problems. First, we went into the Windows Firewall settings on a Vista PC and checked the Block all incoming connections option. This is great when you want to lock down your computer and prevent any access coming in, such as when on public networks. However, if you forget to uncheck the option, sharing won't work when on your private network either.

Next, we went to another PC that was also loaded with Network Magic and tried to access the share; as planned, it was unsuccessful. So then we clicked the Troubleshoot Sharing button. After it ran a test, it came back said it was likely the remote computer's firewall causing the problem—exactly what we were hoping for. Then we wanted to check if it would detect or recommend checking the misconfiguration of the sharing protocols. So we unchecked the sharing protocols on the Properties dialog of the Network Connection. Then from another computer on the network, we tried to access a shared folder on the misconfigured computer; as planned, it wasn't responding. After we ran the Troubleshoot Sharing wizard, however, it didn't detect or discuss the problem as we were hoping, and it actually showed the share being accessible when it wasn't.

Controlling and Monitoring There are two new controlling and monitoring features since we reviewed Network Magic 4.8: Internet Access Control and an automatic screen shot utility. The Internet Access Control feature lets you specify exactly when to allow Internet access on each computer. This is great if you have children in the home. However, if you're using Windows Vista's Parental Controls, or a third-party solution, you ought to stick with its scheduling features to centralize your control. The screen shot utility (see ) is pretty nifty.

You can schedule it to automatically take screen shots every so often or you can manual request a shot. These settings and the shots can be managed and viewed from any computer. This is great if you want to keep your eye on a little one. However, there's room for improvement. For example, it would be even better if you could view a computer's screen in real-time, a video stream.

Resource Sharing and the Network Map If you didn't share folders or printers during the initial setup of Network Magic, or you want to add more, you can do so at anytime. On the computer that has the folder or printer you want to share, click the Share a Folder or Share a Printer button on the main menu. We found sharing is easy and straightforward, however you can't specify who you want to give access to; it has to be given to everyone. Like back in version 4.8, Network Magic has a Map screen where you can view a simple diagram of your network, which includes computers, Internet, router, and any other network devices. You can click on each component to see what you can do or change.

For example, as shows, clicking a computer gives you shortcuts to access its Internet access, screen shot, and report settings. You can even select View Details and Alerts for a detailed summary about the device; great when you need to reference IP or MAC addresses. The Bottom Line Though Network Magic isn't perfect, it can help average users manage their network easier. Plus it has seen many improvements over the past year, from version 4.8 to 5.5.

However, as Microsoft keeps improving the network utilities built into Windows, it seems that the need for third-party utilities will decrease. Take Network Magic on your own test drive; download a. Product: Network Magic Pro 5.5 URL: Price: $49.99 Pros: easy-to-use, makes sharing quick and easy Cons: troubleshooting tools lack is an author of many networking and computing books, including Home Networking All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies (Wiley 2008) and Wi-Fi Hotspots: Setting up Public Wireless Internet Access (Cisco Press 2006).

Opinion Summary: 100.0% 0.0% out of 1 reviews.