Multinetwork Manager eases multiple LAN access

Whether you telework part time or visit client sites regularly, if you rely on a Windows-based laptop to connect to multiple networks, you probably spend a fair amount of time changing network settings to access the local LAN. You boot up the laptop, make changes to accommodate your new network, reboot and hope you didn't make any mistakes. Globesoft's Multinetwork Manager, a utility from Globesoft, wins back that time by saving and managing multiple configurations for you. And net managers will appreciate the ability to preconfigure network settings and apply them to remote machines.

One-time boot up
While it doesn't handle all the situations requiring a change of settings, Multinetwork Manager takes care of the common ones quite well. Globesoft has taken a practical approach to administering the product; once you have your Windows 95, 98, NT, Millennium Edition or 2000 machine configured for a location, you simply save the settings and give the profile a name. When you arrive at the next location, you adjust the network settings and create a second profile, and so on. Each profile appears as a tab on a configuration page for easy access, and once a configuration is working properly, you're given the option to lock the settings to prevent accidental change. If you need to edit the settings, simply unlock the tab before doing so.

Multinetwork Manager offers many options for changing settings. Upon installation, a small icon appears in your system tray. One click and the application's control panel appears, which lets you create a new profile or activate an existing one.

My favorite feature is Boot Time Application, which helps reduce the number of reboots. Once you've created a few profiles, upon start up at a new location, the application prompts you to accept the default profile or select another. Choose one and no second reboot is needed.

If you use a docking station with your laptop, you'll want to use the enable/disable adapter feature to link a profile with the right hardware adapter, so you'll automatically boot to the right configuration.

Multinetwork Manager also supports changing Microsoft Outlook settings, mapped network drives, default printers and start-up programs. With the Startup tab you can have Multinetwork Manager run any program at startup. User profiles can be shared on NT/2000 but not on Windows 9X or Millennium Edition. That means under NT, you won't need separate configurations for multiple users of the same laptop.

The Multinetwork Manager settings page lets you control how the program operates. Options include "Always in System Tray," "Enable boot configuration selection," "Timeout after X seconds" where X is user-selectable, "Disable Scandisk," and "Boot Time Application reload for Workgroup." There's also an option to enable a log file for troubleshooting.

The HTML help files offer examples of how each option is used. I especially like the help files' use of colored text to highlight important points or limitations. However, the HTML navigation could be better - all the help is contained in one large file headed by a list of hyperlinked topics.

Almost, but not quite
Multinetwork Manager's current version, 5.5 - the first we've seen in the U.S. - has a few nits we'd like to see picked. If you use different corporate e-mail configurations, like multiple Exchange Server names, you won't be able to make those changes with the current release. Multinetwork Manager also doesn't support switching Novell network settings on NT or 2000 machines.

The next version is supposed to add enhanced TCP/IP support, wireless-specific settings such as changing the service-set ID, extended VPN support, and additional functionality in the import/export area. But because Multinetwork Manager includes 12 months of upgrades, there's no reason to wait for the next release.

How we did it
We installed Multinetwork Manager on a Dell Latitude LM laptop equipped with a Xircom CEM 56 modem and 10/100 network card. The machine runs Windows 98 Second Edition and has 40M bytes of memory. We also used a Linksys wireless Ethernet card to test the multiple profile features.

We tested the product by setting up multiple network connection profiles and then connecting the laptop to the separate networks.

Ferrill is a freelance writer based in Lancaster, Calif. He can be reached at paul.Ferrill@verizon.net.

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