Software ReviewsMultiNetwork Manager 7.0If you've read our how-to article on connecting work laptops to home networks, you know that this can be a complicated process. While you can easily adjust many settings on computers, some of the fundamental network protocols and settings used for networks are not among them. In fact, changing some network settings -- such as the domain -- can render your laptop useless back on the work network. For that reason, we suggest in our how-to that a dual-boot solution, in which you can boot your computer for home as one computer and boot it at work as another, is the cleanest way to accomplish this dual use. Now, Microsoft claims they've made this process much easier with Windows XP (see the note here). But we have two issues: first, we haven't tried this to see if it works and second, we can't because I'm sure like many other companies, we haven't switched to XP throughout all of our laptops and workstations. Nevertheless, as many visitors to our site have pointed out, there is at least one other solution, namely software that allows you to "switch" the network settings on your computer. In this review, we're going to take a look at one of the leading packages -- MultiNetwork Manager 7.0. Later, we'll look at another leading package, Netswitcher, and provide a comparison to help you decide which is best. Overall, we found that MultiNetwork Manager 7.0 provided great functions in switching networks, was fairly easy to install, worked flawlessly and was very competitively priced (at the time we reviewed it, the package was available for $32 at BlueHighway Software.) Overview MultiNetwork Manager was developed by GlobeSoft, a Swedish company that has a number of interesting software products. The program is a available as a download-only purchase from BlueHighway Software, a distributor of several utilities, including this one. The software is downloaded as a single, five-megabyte executable file. At the time we downloaded the program, there was one version for Windows 2000/XP (version 7.0) and another for all other versions of Windows (version 6.5). We used the 2000/XP version, MultiNetwork Manager 7.0. The program can be downloaded for a free trial period and then easily purchased via the web and an e-mailed password that licenses the trial version. Once the file is downloaded and executed (double clicked on), the program installs a number of executable programs as well as an online help guide. The user guide is also available to read, save to your local computer and printout on-line from the version 7 home page on the GlobeSoft site. Installation Installation of MultiNetwork Manager 7.0 went fairly smoothly. We had two hiccups: one because of a problem in Windows and one because of a complicated VPN system in a corporate network. Most users won't have either of these issues. Still, you'll want to read through this section to help avoid any troubles. We double-clicked on the downloaded file and an install wizard automatically launched. We clicked next a few times and accepted the license agreement. The wizard then recommended a location for installation and requested a user name and organization if applicable. Next, the wizard asked whether we wanted a Complete or Custom installation. The Custom option really only provides another chance to select the location for the install, so we selected Complete. One final click on the install button and the files were copied to the hard drive. We clicked on the finish button and installation was complete. Now on to the configuration stage. To get started, we clicked on the MultiNetwork Manager icon now on the task bar. This opened the Profile Center window that allowed us to select a profile or create a new profile. Once the program is configured, a similar window, allowing you to select the profile, can be set to pop up during startup or shutdown.
To get started, we clicked on the Create Profile tab. From here, we used the convenient "capture" button to automatically create a profile based on our current settings; the settings installed for our corporate network.
We made sure that the computer was running exactly the way we wanted it to when we clicked the capture button. In this instance, we connected to our VPN before hitting the capture button. Even so, the capture feature didn't work with our corporate VPN system. Instead, we had to use the "restore configuration" (sets the network profile as it was before installing MultiNetwork Manager) and then manually copy some of the settings to a new profile for the VPN setting. In the end, it worked just fine and most users won't have nearly the complications with the VPN. Next, we wanted to create a separate profile for our home network. We clicked on the advanced option to create a network connection for sharing printers, files, etc. (the basic option is when you only need Internet connectivity). Next, we selected the options to configure by checking the appropriate boxes and selected that we wanted to set them up manually versus the automatic option.
The program did a very nice job walking us through every step of this process. The local profile was quite different from the work profile, including the adapter (wireless card versus wired Ethernet adapter), the domain (workgroup versus domain), shared folders (none versus several for work profile) and on and on. At the end, we simply gave our new profile a name and checked the box to apply this profile once it was saved. After that, the program requested that the computer be restarted to apply the new profile. Unfortunately, once the computer rebooted we had a little trouble logging into the system. Conveniently, MultiNetwork Manager includes that option to return to the configuration in place before the program was installed. We did that and were able to log back onto the machine. The issue was that we had failed to create a "local" logon. This really isn't MultiNetwork Manager's fault, but for Windows 2000 users who normally logon to a network, this is an absolutely critical piece of information. Again...you MUST create a local logon before you create a profile that no longer includes your work domain. If you need help creating that local logon for Windows 2000, check out this Microsoft KnowledgeBase article. Once we created the local logon, created a profile for our home network, rebooted the computer, selected the local profile and booted the laptop, we were on our local lab network versus the work network. Very, very cool. Performance Once installed, MultiNetwork Manager 7.0 worked flawlessly for us in all of our tests. We easily switched profiles and our laptop responded perfectly. We really can't say enough about how rock solid this program performed. Perfect. Technical Support The technical support options include the online help files and e-mail support from GlobeSoft. While that might seem limited to some users, the support is actually outstanding. Our e-mails were responded to in less than a day and we kept getting that great response until our issue was resolved. That's a huge plus for MultiNetwork Manager 7.0. Summary Overall, we thought this was a very handy utility. We had two hiccups in the installation, but one of those was more a Windows issue than MultiNetwork Manager issue (local logon) and the other was only due to a complication from a VPN client. Both hiccups were overshadowed by the flawless execution of the program and the wide range of options to cover nearly every possible configuration need. We also found, by the way, that the program is updated frequently. In fact, just before posting this review BlueHighway pointed out some additional new features coming out in the latest upgrade in just a few weeks. You'll want to check their site to make sure you understand all of the latest features. If you have a need to apply multiple network configurations to a laptop or other computer, we urge you to download the free evaluation. We give a strong recommendation and a solid "A" grade. Grade = A Quick Facts
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