Network Magic Pro: Your Key to Network Nirvana? Network Magic Advisor, Security, and Alert Functions Eric Geier
Advisor, Security, and Alert Functions
Network Magic's most beneficial advisor functionality is from the Health and Security Alerts and Wireless Protection feature. You are alerted of potential security risks — not being connected to an encrypted wireless network, for example, and even when critical Windows updates are not installed on PCs.
Another impressive feature we found is the ability to set up two wireless security techniques, MAC address filtering (called Network Lock) and disabling SSID (Network Name) broadcasting, right from Network Magic when using a supported router.
We were not, however, very impressed with the intrusion detection feature Network Magic provides. When someone joins the network, a pop-up window appears on each computer loaded with Network Magic to alert users that someone has joined.
If the computer that joins is unrecognized, you can view the Network Map, right-click on the computer's icon, and select Track as Intruder. However, Network Magic doesn't come out and recommend enabling the Network Lock feature or any other feature to help protect the network.
Resource Sharing and Network Map
You should find it fairly easy to share and access folders and printers on computers loaded with Network Magic, although you can't specify advanced sharing permissions or exactly who can access and edit the folders. Remote access to shared folders using the Net2Go feature is easily enabled when using a supported router. This makes it very useful to share files with others or to have access to files when away from your home or office.
The Network Map provides a useful diagram of the network and details of each computer or device, such as signal strength for wireless connections and IP and MAC addresses. Computers even have a link for quick remote desktop access. Clicking the router's icon gives you quick access to the Web-based configuration utility, support information, links to settings on the router, and more.
Bottom Line
Overall, we found Network Magic can indeed help you better set up, secure, troubleshoot, and manage a home or small-office network. There are, however, some improvements that should be made to the software.
The price of the software can be minuscule when comparing the time involved in fixing some networking issues, such as troubleshooting sharing problems, or the loss associated with data theft because you didn't understand how to set up wireless encryption. It's even less expensive if you take advantage of the free six months of online backup from Carbonite for up to eight PCs, a $25 value.
Understand, however, that not all network troubleshooting, and configuration can be automated — buying a piece of software will not solve all of your problems.
Want to take Network Magic on your own test drive? You can download a package that includes both the free, feature-limited basic edition as well as a 7-day free trial of the Network Magic Pro edition, which puts more network management features and services at your fingertips.
