Network Magic

Hello All,

We just purchased a new Lenovo about a month ago and there has been an advertisement about a software program called Network Magic. The pro version is $49.99. I'm considering buying this for two reasons:

1) easy printing from our laptop to our one printer

and

2) supposed remote access to files/folders (I'm not sure if it's just to the folder on the laptop or if you can access them remotely using the laptop that are on the desktop. Must research that further.)

Anyway--I was wondering if anyone has used this software program and likes/dislikes it.

There were a bunch of other features but the above two were the only ones that I forsee that we would get our moneys worth out of.

Thanks for any input.

 

The easiest way to do all this, without spending money, would be to download an IP range scanner like Angry IP Scanner, for example. You can then scan your local subnet and Open a Computer in explorer to access its files and use devices such as printers plugged into a stationary computer. If you like the idea, I can tell you more about how to do it.

 

There are a few open source (read: free) programs that can do this. For one, the OS itself has utilities to do this (static IPs, network file/printer sharing, etc). For two, programs like Hamachi (free VPNs) and others that help you with secure file shares and the like.

 

Wow! Thanks so much to both of you. As you can see--we're fairly (really) computer-illiterate at our house. Would this be something I can do with some ease? I'm not afraid of a little rolling-up-my-sleeves work. I'm just concerned that it would be too complicated for me to download/install and maintain. But I like the price tag you're talking about and as long as you think that a computer-idiot could do this without bothering you guys too much--then I'm game!!

 

I had Network Magic and got rid of it, if you read the fine print you maybe shocked in what you allow them to monitor, first of all when you have the pay version, you still get advertising from them on certain interfaces, if you setup website monitoring, you will be emailed all the websites your computer has been visiting, if you read the fine print, a copy of all your websites visited is sent to Network Magic, my question is what business is it of theirs, I asked for a refund and got it, I also questioned their monitoring policies stating they have no business in recieving a copy of visited websites, their reply was the same I hear from every damn software company, they said its to enhance the user experiance, Im not sure what else they spy on but it should be considered as spyware.

 

Should be able to do it easily following these steps:

Click on the following to download Angry IP Scanner:
http://www.angryziber.com/ipscan/ipscan.exe
To my knowledge it's virus free and I've been using it for ages to access files across computers in my house for ages.

Click on run however many times it asks you (it asked me twice).

Now you should see two white boxes at the top with lots of 0's in them. Type in the following to the box on the left:
192.168.1.1
And this to the box on the right:
192.168.1.254

Click on start and in a few moments you should see a whole list of addresses with a red circle next to them and in the ping circle it says dead.

Wait until a dialog box comes up. Click OK to it.

Scroll down until you see a computer with a blue circle next to it. Click on this and have a look in the hostname column to see if it's the computer you want to see the files of or use the printer e.t.c. (it might help to point out that both computers MUST be switched on).

Click on Commands --> Open Computer --> In Explorer.

Once you've done that, post back and I'll show you how to make your C drive available for access and also how to use printers e.t.c. attached to that computer. That is, if you want to know. It's really easy. Let me know if you have any problems.

 

Thanks so much everyone for your responses. Special thanks to mattireland. I'll try it tonight or tomorrow!! Appreciate your valuable time!!

 

No problems - it's what I'm here for - just let me know if I can be of more help.

 

Very nice application, will it also detect if an intruder is connected to the home network?

 

Symantec antivirus blocked it from being saved. I don't know if i can trust it.

 

I've been using it for at least 2 years now.... to my knowledge it's completely safe and a lot of antivirus programs just block everything they don't actually know for a fact it safe.... unlike these small apps.

It's up to you though.... I suppose every time you download something there is a certain element of risk.

@Wirelessman: Yes, it will show if there is an intruder on your network, wireless (or otherwise I suppose but I'm not sure how they'd achieve this); just so long as they haven't some how hidden their signal, which I think is unlikely. Unfortunately, there isn't an alarm or anything: that might be something to contact them about to see if they can put it into the next version. There are a lot of other IP range scanners though and one might have that feature already built in.

 

That's sounds good. Some have said a way to verify a wireless intruder is when all PC's are off and the wireless light on the router is going crazy, which has happened to me, but I don't thinkk this is a good way to check intruders, I think Angryscan is more trusteable.

 

Wouldn't the easiest way to see the systems on the network be to go into the DHCP table in the router?

 

Any network scanner will do. To spot amateurs, just use your router's dhcp log to see which IPs are leased out. Keep in mind that this doesn't spot someone who's clever enough to use a static IP address that is outside your router's scope. But it will be rare if you run into anyone that determined.

 

That`s a thought, but there are tons of apps to make sure, and yes, Angryscan is one of them.

 

@sgip2000: Or on the ARP table for that sake, but you would have to get into your router UI (user id and password).

 

Yes. As Wirelessman said, you have to know U/N and P/W for the router option, although it does show you who has logged in when you weren't necessarily looking at the IP Scanner. I prefer using the IP scanner though as it does give you various advantages.

Also if someone is hacking your network, a nice netsend "" might be appropriate lol.

 

How do you do that?

 

I personally think using Window's my network place is easier. Just open it up. If your computers are on the same workgroup, bam, double click the computer.

You can add printers from there or browse file shares.

To share a folder, go to the host computer, right click the folder and follow the prompts. BAM. No extra programs needed.

 

You want to right click the computer and under commands select explorer.
If you are using Vista like me, you'll get an error. You gotta modify the command
Type in
explorer.exe /e, /root, \\%s


I downloaded the program to see if it's any better than the program I am already using. I still think it's easier for you to go through Network places or under XP, it's Network Neighborhood.

 

hee, hee!! You reminded me of a computer Emeril with all of your "bam's". Those were great!!

Is the host computer my desktop? Or is it the laptop? Thanks!

 

Host computer is whatever computer has the files you want to share.

In general, for something to be shared over the network, the Host computer has to allow the object (printer device, files) to be used by other guest computers (other computers who want to use the printer device).

 

If you do want to do it my way, which I personnally find easier, this screenshot might help you know what I'm babbling on about:



Click for a larger image.

If you click on the one with the blue dot by it, go on Commands --> Open Computer --> In Explorer, you should get a box like this:



Again, click for a larger image.

EDIT: If you do want to do it like this, say and I'll guide you through the next step.

 

Trying it now...thank so much!!!

 

Hi Mattireland--It's asking for a username and password at this point.

 

Yes, some computers do that to protect themselves I think.

As its your computer, can you give it the one you use to log in with?

 

hmmm...I'm trying. It's allowing me to type the info in, but once I click "ok" it doesn't do anything. The username is gray-ed out and won't let me click it at all.

 

How do you do that?

 

Just open up command prompt and type the following:

net send IPHERE "message here"

Just make sure you've got the messenger service enabled in Start --> Run --> services.msc

Alternatively, if you don't want to use command prompt, I wrote a nice little program that allows you to do it with a GUI rather than having to type commands at a prompt. You can find it here: http://www.mattireland.org/tech/software/

(it's the bottom one).

 

So I would type;

net send (the IP of the intruder) "I'm coming get you and your dog"

 

Hummmm, I don't have meesenger service on the list.

Do you mean, MSN Messenger?

 

Should look like this:



Click for a bigger run. I've shown me running services.msc, finding the messenger service and couble clicking on it so I can start it. Mine is started.

 

Is the computer you are connecting to an XP or Vista machine? Vista turns off sharing by default, so you may want to check that out. If it's an XP machine, you can log into the guest account by typing in "guest" in username, and leave the password blank.

 

Oh! Thanks so much. We have Vista business on our Lenovo. I'll try that now.

 

Oops..I misread what was said. I went in to my network and sharing center and (I think) enabled printer and file sharing options. Here's the thing. I keep typing in the password information and it keeps bringing me back to the password and login information page to be typed in again. I'm in a continuous loop. It doesn't give me an error message or anything like that. Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

THanks!

 

Try the opposite of what it says to do here:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070827021456AAysMGr

EDIT: Or, even better, try this:

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/126388-file-sharing-turn-off.html

If you want, I can summerise it here but I think you'll get more detail from the latter site rather than it transmitted through me as I don't regularly use Vista.

 

Okay...I did that. But the Thinkpad Vantage password stuff keeps coming up. I keep typing in my password , but it doesn't do anything. It literally just sits there. Not even an error message or anything. It's this continuous loop. I guess I'm entering the wrong password, but we only use two different ones. Is there a way to check my what my Vantage user id and password is?

 

That's XP, my vista doesn't have messenger.

 

Make sure you are typing in the login information for the computer that you are trying to connect to. If you are trying to connect, say to your desktop from your laptop, make sure you use the user name/password from the desktop. Act as if you are sitting in from of the computer you are connecting to.

 

It works, but just from XP to XP, but it doesn't work between XP and Vista though.

 

The Windows Message Service (not to be confused with the IM Windows Messenger, is no longer supported in _Vista or Server 2008, at least if this Wiki article can be trusted. Too much abuse, I suppose.

 

It seems that people weren't using it, so it was disabled in SP2, but the truth is that you can enable it, I did it and used it. But I cannot send a message to a Vista computer There must be a way and I will find it, I promise!

 

It was INCREDIBLY easy to abuse. You could spam a computer, forcing a user to keep clicking close every message as it comes up. Granted it only showed one message at a time. But all you need to do is queue enough of these buggers....

And few businesses used it. They rather email each other.

It's funny how this thread got hijacked. I wonder if the OP got his network working......

I recommended Network magic to my cousin since I was tired of troubleshooting her network. I now use a combination of Remote assist/connection and OpenVNC/Putty. I'm so proud of myself.

 

Hahaha, I didn't even realized how we got into this conversation, this is incredible indeed, what is the name of your cousin, I have time to help her

 

@OP: I'm really sorry this is taking you so much effort to sort out and I feel there's something really simple that's going wrong.

To reset the admin password (i.e. U/N: admin) Vista allows you to create a password reset disk (provided you have an external floppy drive. You can find instructions here:
http://ramanathan.wordpress.com/2007/03/12/create-windows-password-reset-disk/

 

Hi Mattireland--Oh NO--it is I That needs to apologize to you. You're dealing with an absolute computer dummy/idiot/ding dong...you choose. You have already spent so much time on this. I truly, truly appreciate this!!! I am working on this to try and figure out the password I used. I can't believe I don't know this. We really only use 2 passwords and usernames because (see above word choices) so I'm not sure why it's not working. I'll keep working on it. I definitely appreciate your patience!!

PS_Your intuition is probably spot on! It is something really simple--that's just what type of character your working with in the computer world.

 

ahhh!! Therein lies the problem. If it's the username and password that we use everyday to get into the desktop. Then there are two different usernames and passwords that I have tried. BUT if it is the username and password that I used to set up the computer 5 years ago...well, then I have no idea what that is. Any advice?

 

If it's five years old, does that mean it's running on Windows XP? Yes, it will in most likelyhood be that password, unfortunately. Still with XP it's quite easy to reset it.

Another option would be to create another account with a really easy one word username that you knew and also a really easy or non-existant password. You could use this account for testing purposes and then delete it when done for security reasons.

 

It SHOULD be any local (desktop, which I presume your printer is connected to) username and password. If nether one works, then this is odd. Have you tried connecting to your desktop from the network neighborhood?