Network Magic 4.0 | 
 enlarge | From: Avanquest
Category: Software
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $24.79
You Save: $5.16 (17%)
New (2) Used (1) from $18.00
Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 2352
Format: Cd-rom
Platforms: Windows 2000, Windows Xp, Windows Vista
Media: CD-ROM
Operating System: Windows Vista
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.4 x 1.6
Legal Disclaimer: Warranty does not cover misuse of product.
MPN: 4650
Model: 4651
UPC: 804526032565
EAN: 0018059046511
ASIN: B000LV7P8I
Release Date: December 20, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Features:
| • | Connect, Manage, and Secure Your Network | | • | Share printers and files between all of your computers | | • | Connect and repair your network and internet connection | | • | View a live map of network; protect wireless network from intruders | | • | Print from any computer; monitor Internet use and Web sites visited |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
You try to connect your computers and devices together to share a printer, files and maintain an internet connection, but find yourself wasting hours sorting through confusing dialog boxes. It is time to stop with the hassles and let Network Magic do the work for you! With Network Magic you can easily 1) connect, manage, and secure your network; 2) share printers and files between all of your computers; 3) monitor Internet use and web sites visited; 4) connect and repair your network and internet connection; and 5) Protect your files and personal information from unwanted intruders. Stay connected to your preferred network without wasting time trying to set up or a repair a connection. Network Magic automatically detects connection problems and attempts to fix them for you. Add devices with one simple click. Don t waste another minute sorting through confusing instructions and pop up messages. The network map immediately detects and illustrates every device on your network. View the current status and information of each device, enabling you to easily manage your entire network. Share printers with the click of a mouse be able to print from any computer to any printer in your home and office. Share files, music, and photos between all of your computers quickly and easily. Simply click Share and you can access it from any computer. Wireless and broadband protection keeps your personal files and bandwidth protected from unwanted intruders. Health and security alerts ensure your firewall and antivirus security measures are doing their job by scanning your network, alerting you to issues and helping you resolve them. Know how your devices, software, and Internet are being used. Receive a daily report for each computer showing web sites visited and software applications used.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 Can destroy Explorer performance August 12, 2008
David J. Lewis (Arlington, MA USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Whatever benefits Network Magic might have, it's not worth the problem it creates with the Windows file system, namely slowing Windows Explorer to a crawl.
After installing the product, when you click on an Explorer folder, there is a noticeable delay in opening the folder and showing the contents -- usually an instantaneous operation. I'd guess that the larger your network, the worse the delay. There are other delays as well in managing and using files. It may also impact internet browsing, though I'm less sure of that.
The reason seems to be that Network Magic apparently turns on an obscure -- and usually disabled -- feature of Windows which constantly scans other computers in the network for scheduled tasks. This is probably part of the product's system for coordinating among various machines.
I noticed the slowdown almost immediately after installing Network Magic. It practically crippled my work. I do a lot with Explorer to manage files, and that slowed from a couple seconds for normal tasks to up to an exasperating minute, mostly just waiting with no feedback.
I uninstalled Network Magic, but that did not fix the problem. Luckily, I found a fix for it by searching. Using RegEdit, delete the registry key...
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Explorer\RemoteComputer\NameSpace\{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}
I did not experiment with NM to see how it would run without this key. As far as I'm concerned, a product that hurts performance this much with no warning or explanation is not to be trusted. (It also continues sending you daily e-mail even after uninstalling, which is another bad sign.)
 read the fine print May 4, 2008
James Zeller
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
The programs works most of the time and is not hard to install. The one thing you need to note is if you check network magics web site. It tell you that is is for 8 users when you get it it tell you for 3 only. and to be fair if you check the fine print on the picture it DOES say 3 users. I just missed it
 It REALLY WORKS! April 12, 2008
Fred Moore (Reston, VA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
OK, so my network is only my Dell desktop which runs XP Pro and my new Toshiba laptop which runs VISTA Home Premium and an HP PSC 1610 "all in one" printer, and Norton Internet Security. I tried for over a week to make them play together on a wireless network (Linksys WRT54G Wireless-G Router).
No luck. Finally I bought Network Magic but wanted the latest version (4.7.8) so I downloaded it from their website. I just got the "Essentials" version for about $30 less a 20% coupon that I found on the web.
Within about 2 hours I was in business. Sharing printer, sharing files back and forth. And it prints out really slick diagrams. Between Network Magic and the Linksys "Easylink Advisor" there seem to be no more mysteries. EVERYTHING WORKS. BTW, I did have one question about the install, and they answered it very quickly via email. Easily worth FIVE STARS!
Fred Moore, Herndon, VA
Unless they mean black magic... March 24, 2008
A. Swanson (NorCal)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful
After switching routers with no increase in speed, I decided to try Network Magic in an attempt to increase in-network copy times. What a terrible mistake!
At least before NM, the network was working. I've been involved in computer networking for about 15 years, so it's not new to me. That said, once I added a Vista and a Suse Linux box to the mix, plus a Dlink 634 router, network copy times increased dramatically. In order to complicate things even more, I ensured that I was using no less than three different AV products, each with their own firewalls and quirks.
I could download from the internet at up to 800kbps - perhaps faster, but that's the fastest I had seen. But from machine to machine within my own network, I couldn't get above about 200. After trying everything, from disabling firewalls to the aforementioned router change, there was simply no increase in speed. That's when I made the mistake of adding NM.
Initially, I did get a bump in speed - for the first several minutes. Then, my dlink router decided to shut down. Not power off, just stop routing. Over and over. It had never done this before and hasn't since the removal of NM - but I'm getting ahead of myself. I bounced the router and continued. Now my Vista laptop on wireless began dropping the connection to the network. Again, new behavior. Copy speeds, which had peaked at around 500kbps, were now running at around 160. In an effort to clear up things, I shutdown every box in the network. Bringing them up slowly, according to NM's instructions, I got the network back up. For about five minutes.
I started the project at about 8am on a Saturday morning. By 2pm I was uninstalling. By 5pm, I had my network back. Network Magic is - at least for me - nothing but problems. From what I was able to determine, it seems to do no more than automate the sharing of items. It seems that all it does is automate network tasks using windows networking. If that's true, all is well and good - or should be. However, I did have the router and connection issues. So it seems that somewhere, somehow, NM introduces it's own problems.
Will it work for others? Don't know. Was my combination of OS's and AV products part of the problem? Not sure - but I did shutdown all the AV products to no positive effect. I even took the time to send NM a complete list of all my products and versions in an effort to give them a chance to diagnose the problems. They sent me an email thanking me for installing NM and asking if I wanted to buy it for a discounted price. WOW. Thanks.
All in all, I wasted an entire day installing a product which, in the end, created more problems than it solved. It offered zero in the way of increased functionality. If you take the time to learn this product, you can take the same time and learn windows networking - and get better results. Can't and wouldn't recommend it.
Doesn't play nice with Vista March 12, 2008
Tim (Atlanta, GA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you've got a wired all XP professional network, then it works fine, however don't add a vista laptop with a wireless connection to the mix it is just one big headache. Went back & forth with tech support and when I finally gave up and said that when I didn't use NM to manage the connection, everything went fine...their response was Great glad that things are working for you.
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