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Connectify Hotspot Connectify Hotspot is intended to share your PC’s Internet connection with other computers and devices within your Wi-Fi range. Fortunately, it allows multiple types of devices, such as media players, e-readers and even smart phones, to connect to the created access point.
The program has a very intuitive interface. Thus, with just providing a few data, you can start a hotspot right from your PC provided it has a wireless network card. Although you can actually create a hotspot using Windows, Connectify Hotspot makes this procedure much simpler and saves you the effort of dealing with multiple parameters and configuration pages. Moreover, this application has the advantage of allowing access to multiple devices at the same time. Moreover, it lets you do it in a safe way, as you can easily protect your wireless network with a password.
Besides the free version reviewed here, the application also has a PRO paid version. Although both versions provide such basic features as creating a software access point, sharing Internet and displaying the connected devices, the PRO version goes far beyond that. Therefore, it is for you to decide what version to use according to your needs and purchase power.
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MyPublicWiFi Do you know that you do not need to buy expensive equipment to have a small wireless? Provided your computer has a wireless network card, you can run MyPublicWifi to convert it into a Wi-Fi hotspot.
MyPublicWifi is a light application, which makes it easy to download. At the same time, this software is very easy to use.
When you use it for the first time, you can set up and start the hotspot right away using automatic hotspot configuration. The program will provide a name for the network and a network key but you can change them at will. In addition, you can decide to share your Internet connection with your network clients. In case you want to activate this option, you must also select which connection you will be sharing Internet from. This is perhaps the most useful of this software’s characteristics as it will allow you to save money on Internet connection costs. If you have already set up a hotspot, you can start the hotspot just by pressing a button.
Additionally, you can visualize a list of all the clients connected to the hotspot. Finally, there are some management options available. One of them is related to banning clients from using file-sharing software. You can also tell MyPublicWifi to start automatically with Windows. Finally, if you want to audit your network’s traffic, you can set it to keep a log of visited sites.
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LogMeIn Hamachi LogMeIn Hamachi is a VPN service (free for non-commercial use) that easily sets up in 10 minutes, and enables secure remote access to your business network, anywhere there's an Internet connection.
LogMeIn Hamachi works with your existing firewall, and requires no additional configuration. LogMeIn Hamachi is the first networking application to deliver an unprecedented level of direct peer-to-peer connectivity. LogMeIn Hamachi is secure. All Hamachi communications are encrypted and authenticated using industry-standard algorithms and protocols. Nobody will be able to see what two LogMeIn Hamachi peers are talking about.
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Wireshark Wireshark is a free packet analyzer. It is used for network troubleshooting, analysis, software and communications protocol development, and education.
Wireshark is very similar to tcpdump, but has a graphical front-end, plus some integrated sorting and filtering options. Wireshark allows the user to put the network interfaces that support promiscuous mode into that mode, in order to to see all traffic visible on that interface, not just traffic addressed to one of the interface’s configured addresses.
Wireshark is software that «understands» the structure of different networking protocols. Thus, it is able to display the encapsulation and the fields along with their meanings of different packets specified by different networking protocols. Wireshark uses pcap to capture packets, so it can only capture the packets on the types of networks that pcap supports.
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NetWorx NetWorx is an application which monitors your bandwidth usage. The program generates reports both on Internet and Intranet connections. These reports reflect the network activity on different time intervals since the analysis is made on immediate, as well as on long-term network usage.
As with any app of this kind, NetWorx stays hidden in the system's tray. For real-time information about the incoming and outgoing traffic, you can enable a floating window to appear on your screen. This window is customizable in terms of translucency, graphic colors, position on the screen, size etc.
What's great about this tool is its ability to release visual and sound alerts when the traffic exceeds a certain threshold. You have the ability to determine the notification conditions; namely, you can set the alerts to become active when you receive more or less traffic within a specific period of time. In addition, you are enabled to end the connection on the spot or shut down the computer in case the notification parameters are met.
In addition, the program provides a speed meter. It opens in a new window and it gives you information about the transfer rate of you incoming and outgoing traffic. At any moment you can save the statistics into a .txt file. This tool is able to monitor the bandwidth usage in relation to specific time intervals. The reports can easily exported to Excel, MS Word, and HTML.
To sum up, NetWorx is an application to monitor and control your bandwidth usage. It is mainly designed for those users who have any traffic limitations. A good analysis of your bandwidth situation helps you use your network connection more efficiently.
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