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Use Pro Tools to Manage Your Small Network

As the de facto system administrator for your home or small-office network, you're the person that everyone turns to when PCs contract a virus, can't print, can't connect to the Wi-Fi net, or undergo other daily crises. Dealing with setup problems is bad enough, but what if you're also the person responsible for overall security and maintenance of your network? Or a parent needing to protect your children on the Internet? Things can get real complicated, real fast.

Actual "sysadmins" have professional software tools to keep tabs on their networks, but most of these utilities are too geeky for the average home or small-office user. By employing one or two of the following tools, however, you can address all of the key networking issues that home and small-office users face: security, connection and sharing, parental control, and general maintenance.

One-Click Easy

Network Magic Premium ($30 for three PCs, $40 for five PCs), a truly miraculous utility, is the only one you'll need for most home and small-office networks. After you install it on each PC, it handles thorny tasks such as printer and folder sharing, security and network-usage monitoring, and wireless-connection management, all with one-click ease.

Parents and small-office overseers will appreciate the daily usage reports for each computer that show the amount of time spent using specific applications, the Internet Explorer browser history, and network traffic generated by time of day. Reports can't prevent inappropriate activity by kids or employees, such as excessive chat usage or visits to X-rated Web sites, but they can alert you that it's happening so you can take action.

For anyone with a mix of old and new systems, Network Magic also takes away the pain of having to perform the same task five different ways. The utility supports PCs using everything from Windows 98 SE to Vista, with the exception of NT. A beta version is available for Macs.

Small-Business Step-Up

The free network and IT management tool Spiceworks is more professionally oriented than Network Magic, making it perfect for small businesses that need to simplify asset management, keep track of software licenses, and monitor employee network usage. You'll need to gain a little networking and Windows management expertise, but Spiceworks provides excellent help files and an active user forum to help you along.

After a quick installation on an administrator computer, Spiceworks crawls your network, identifying and classifying devices. Unlike Network Magic, it needs no installation on other computers. Instead, it uses Windows' built-in network management instrumentation (WMI) protocol to provide media access control (MAC) addresses, software version numbers, installed patches, antivirus upgrade dates, and other data. Spiceworks can inventory the contents of Mac and Linux machines, too.

Spiceworks' troubleshooting features include the ability to compare the configurations of two computers to find out why one is working and the other isn't. You can also perform DNS mapping to get a clear picture of the devices on your network. Myriad reports and alerts help you keep tabs on almost-full hard drives and other potential or actual problems. Finally, the program's e-mail-based Help Desk, where employees can enter support requests, is a lifesaver for part-time administrators.

Activity Monitoring

While Network Magic and Spiceworks can alert you to suspicious activities, they can't prevent them from occurring in the first place. If you want to limit your employees' Internet activities or restrict your children from going to inappropriate chat rooms, you need a content-filtering utility. ContentWatch makes the NetNanny filtering tool for parents and the ContentProtect Professional tool for IT managers; both are extremely easy to install.

With either tool, you can block content in a broad list of categories; prevent access to chat programs, newsgroups, or peer-to-peer file-sharing services; limit usage by time of day or total time; and see all sites visited. Both products cost $40 per PC (with a three-seat minimum for ContentProtect) and work with Windows 2000, XP, and Vista.

Becky Waring