Well, we don't either. These days, the well-connected home is more likely to have a broadband connection shared by multiple PCs and possibly a host of other networked devices as well, and knowing what you've got and keeping everything communicating isn't always easy, particularly for the non-technical among us.
SingleClick Systems aims to make home network management easier with the third iteration of its HomeNet Manager software. The company recently announced with much fanfare that Dell is shipping the utility with all its consumer systems (albeit under the name Dell Network Assistant). HomeNet Manager provides a host of features including wireless network configuration, network resource sharing and device management, and troubleshooting.
Wireless Network Configuration
When you install HomeNet Manager on a Windows XP or Windows 2000 system with a wireless network adapter, the software's first official act is to prompt you to turn off XP's Wireless Zero Configuration (WZC) [define] feature (or we sometimes call it, Wireless Zero Connect). That's no great loss, because what you get in exchange is a fully functional WLAN client with a configuration interface that's a lot more flexible and user-friendly than what comes with Windows.
For example, when you set up a new wireless network connection, you don't have to concern yourself with technical details such as the encryption method in use (or the key length, if dealing with WEP [define]). All you have to do is enter the key, and shortly thereafter you're connected. In particular, WEP users who use a passphrase to simplify key generation will appreciate that they can use the same passphrase to connect the HomeNet Manager client. This certainly beats copying down and entering a long 13- or 26-character key.
We did notice, however, that while HomeNet Manager lets you pick from available networks to join, it doesn't seem to have any provision to specify a SSID [define] manually, which could be a problem if you want to join a network that has the SSID broadcast feature turned off. A SingleClick representative told us that the software should detect such networks and prompt you to enter its SSID, but it didn't work for us when testing the software.
After joining a network, you can create a profile for it and assign a name and icon to the connection to easily identify it (e.g., home, work, school, coffee shop and so on). If a wireless connection (or a wired one, for that matter) is lost for some reason, HomeNet Manager promptly starts a repair wizard that automatically executes all the behind-the-scenes machinations like disabling and re-enabling the interface, recycling the DHCP address [define], and so forth. If it can't fix the problem without you, HomeNet Manager offers suggestions on what to try, such as checking cables or power-cycling devices.
Device Management
As you add more network-enabled devices, it can become difficult to keep track of them — to know what (or where) they are and when they're not working properly. HomeNet Manager can help by automatically locating devices and displaying a list of them organized by category. When you mouse over a icon in the list of devices, you get some basic network information about it, such as IP address and related configuration parameters. Double-clicking an icon gives you additional information, including shared folders and other available resources.
HomeNet Manager couldn't correctly identify all our network devices by name. It couldn't specifically ID non-PC devices like a TiVo DVR, Xbox 360 game console, or a Netgear wireless print server, for example. But when you encounter an unknown device you can access an online device database to look up what it might be (based on what's known about it — usually at least the manufacturer). The database also provides links to product manuals, which is handy. Once you've determined what an entry is, you can relabel it with a descriptive name and icon.
In addition to all your client devices, HomeNet Manager also displays icons for your broadband router and Internet connection that you can use to access the router's login page and display your ISP-assigned global IP address, respectively. We particularly like the latter feature, since finding the global IP (which often changes regularly) usually involves digging deep into your router's administration console.
