At the 2008 International CES, there are some “press only” events, one of which is called Showstoppers. This event brings together more than 100 vendors in one venue, each showing off their offerings. Usually, I make appointments to see people at this event, but I also roam the floor looking for interesting new products. One that caught my eye was Network Magic from a company called PureNetworks (www.networkmagic.com).
My wife had been nagging me to connect her notebook computer, which she works at in the kitchen, to one of our printers in the basement. Although this is the notebook issued to her by her company, she also uses it after hours for things like recipes, photos, music—the usual stuff. I had tried to use the built-in wireless networking tools that come with Windows XP to connect her computer to the printer, but had no luck.
At the PureNetworks booth, a gal was showing a diagram of a network on one of the computer displays. I thought that was neat and asked her about it. One thing led to another, and I agreed to give Network Magic a try in my home. It looked simple enough, and I was at the point where I needed to make a serious try at home networking. One of the things I mentioned to the gal was that many years ago I had networked a few computers and printers together with Windows for Workgroups, so I understand all of the peer-to-peer networking concepts. Why was I having problems now, 10 years later?
To get the ball rolling, the company sent me a D-Link DIR-615 802.11n router that comes with a Network Magic installation disk. I already had a D-Link router, but an earlier model. This new router is optimized with HNAP, a technology protocol that Pure Networks has developed with its hardware partners. The company suggests testing Network Magic with one of these routers to gain the benefits of the HNAP technology. (For more on this technology, visit www.purenetworks.com/partners/hnap.php.)
I had some installation problems with the router, which I’ll detail later in the review, but will cut right to the chase regarding the Network Magic software. Once the router was working, I simply clicked on the Network Magic icon on my desktop PC. A software wizard popped up and directed me through the installation process (see Figure 1). Then I added the setup file to one of my notebook computers, and did the same thing. I was able to quickly develop a two-computer network that the Network Magic software displayed in a diagram, the same type that impressed me at the Showstoppers event (see Figure 2).
It wasn’t so easy, though, to add my wife’s computer to the mix. Although the Network Magic software recognizes it as part of the network (also shown in Figure 2), neither my desktop nor notebook PCs can communicate with it. After speaking with a tech guy at PureNetworks, we came to the conclusion that my wife’s notebook cannot join the network, since it is being prevented from doing so by her IT department. The Windows Firewall popup on her computer says "For your security, some settings are controlled by Group Policy." When I clicked on the Exceptions tab, I could see “PureNetworks Platform Service” on there, but the box was not checked (and could not be checked) and Group Policy is "No." So that answers the question as to why my wife's computer could not join the network.
However, the notebook that I own is a happy member of the network and can print to the HP laser printer on my desktop PC. I was able to share my photo and music folders among the two computers as well. In addition, my desktop PC now has access to the color printers connected to my notebook PC. All is as it should be on the network.
As I promised earlier, I will relate the installation problems I had with the D-Link router. You would think that connecting the router would be a no-brainer. I certainly expected as much. The fly in the ointment, though, was my Internet connection. I connect through Verizon FiOS, which is FTTH or fiber to the home. When the wizard asked for my connection type, FTTH was not on its list, just DSL and Cable. This threw a proverbial curve ball to the wizard and it simply could not deal with it. I was forced to call D-Link tech support, which walked me through a lengthy manual installation process. If you have an FTTH connection, be prepared for a not-so-easy installation of this particular router.
By pure coincidence, I had purchased the exact router a couple of months earlier for my sister-in-law’s family. They connect to the Internet via a cable modem, so I can attest that installation is a breeze if you have a cable modem connection. I remember seeing the Network Magic software back then, but paid no attention to it, since I was doing this as a favor and did not want to get involved in what I thought would be a home-networking debacle. Little did I realize how easy it would have been to connect all of their computers together.
The software that comes with the router is a trial package. If you’re interested in trying Network Magic, you don’t need to purchase a new router, just visit their site for a free download. Pricing after the free trial is shown on the site and depends on how many computers you want to network together. Network Magic also works with Apple Macintosh computers.
