Tools to Make Home Networks Manageable

If there is more than one computer in your home -- and these days, that is quite normal -- then chances are good that you're familiar with the concept of a home network.

Home networks give users the freedom to share Internet connections, a printers and personal files -- such as MP3 collections and photo albums -- with each of the computers in the house. And increasingly, the network is bringing other devices around the house -- such as video game consoles and digital video recorders -- into the mix.

A well-set-up network, whether hard-wired or wireless, will fade into the background and give you little reason to think twice about it. But setting up a network can be complicated, especially under the most common operating system found in home computers: Windows XP Home, which lacks some of the networking tools found in the more expensive Windows XP Professional.

Even the best wireless routers -- which share the Internet connection and files among devices -- can create dead zones in larger, older houses. And if users switch off a PC or take a laptop away from the network, file-sharing with that machine stops -- which can be inconvenient if a photo album or music collection is housed on that machine.

Fortunately there are fixes for all those networking nuisances.

Fixing network problems: Troubleshooting a network can be frustrating, especially because of Microsoft's practice of spreading networking utilities across many different windows and applications. Network Magic ($30, http://www.networkmagic.com/ ) streamlines the confusing tasks of creating, operating and repairing a network with an easy-to-manage control panel and step-by-step wizards that makes quick work of connecting the computers, printers and other gear in the house.

A new version, Network Magic 4.0, further improves on Windows XP (the Mac version is not scheduled until next year) with tools to repair network problems, monitor speeds and detect intruders on wireless networks. In our tests, it detected and solved our network problems, showing how to open existing firewalls, properly allow file sharing and turn on wireless security features. It performed the trick of making the network simultaneously more open and more secure.

Wireless dead zones: You might not even notice when your wireless Web connection skips a beat if you're just hammering out some e-mail. But even well-run wireless networks can have dead zones where the signal is weak, intermittent, or drops out entirely.

If you're streaming video, frozen images on the screen will get old fast.

There are ways to tackle that problem, but few are as simple as a power-line network extender, which uses your home's electrical wiring to bring a network to underserved rooms.

We tried the PLEBR10 PowerLine Ethernet Bridge from Linksys ($69 each, minimum of two required; http://www.linksys.com/ ). Setup was quick and fairly easy. Plug the device into the PC, configure it, then plug one end into your wireless router and the other end into a wall outlet. Plug a second PLEBR10 into an outlet somewhere else in the house and connect it to a PC's networking jack. Instant network.

The devices operated flawlessly from all outlets. The small adapters are slightly too wide to work in some weatherproof outdoor outlets, though they did work when plugged into an extension cord (but not a surge protector).

They were fast enough for e-mail, Web surfing and sharing printers and files, but not for video. A new device such as D-Link's HD PowerLine Network Kit DHP-301 ($219.99 for two units, http://www.dlink.com/ ) runs considerably faster, serving video at uninterrupted speeds, though it was less than perfect when streaming huge high-definition video files.

The problem of wireless drop-outs could be on its way out by July 2007, when a faster version of wireless networking, 802.11N, is due out.

Network storage: Even well-run networks can't access critical documents when the computer with the file is switched off or out of the house. Business networks avoid this problem with hard drives attached directly to the network.

New networked hard drives are built for fun. The Maxtor Fusion ($799 for the 500-gigabyte model, for Macs and PCs; http://www.maxtor.com/ ). It has custom tools for sharing photos, music and movies, and a drag-and-drop graphical interface for accessing files.

If you already have a hard drive full of data, you can get it on the network without having to attach it to a computer. Netgear's Storage Central SC101 ($150, http://www.netgear.com/ ) is a drive enclosure that will put data directly into the network and accommodate a second drive that can serve as a backup.

That means you won't have to buy separate backup drives for every computer in the house.