Software ReviewsWinproxy by Ositis Internet-sharing softwareIf you're like my family and millions of others with two computers in your home hooked to the internet, there is a constant battle to see who's on-line, who's about to get off-line and who can jump on next. For a wide variety of network setups, Winproxy by Ositis could be the easy to use and inexpensive answer to that situation. Unlike a lot of solutions to shared internet access, this is a software only solution. We simply can't say enough about this product so read on. You can go right to the Winproxy web site for more or read below for the overview. Introduction According to Ositis, "Winproxy™ is a secure firewall proxy server designed to run under Windows 95 or Windows NT. When installed on a local area network, Winproxy acts as the network's intelligent Internet "gateway" by optimizing the management and routing of all Internet traffic through a single TCP/IP connection." Got that? OK...so the company's description may be a bit technical. But the idea here is that this software resides on one computer on your network - normally the one with the physical connection to the Internet (that, in turn, usually means the modem and phone line). Then, once you get this software set up properly, any machine on the network goes onto the Internet, gets E-mail, reads Newsgroups, downloads files or EVEN gets an America On Line THROUGH the one machine with the connection. And multiple machines can be online at once (except only one machine can use each AOL account; if you want simultaneous AOL access you'll need an account for each user; that's a limitation of AOL not Winproxy). And, get this, the program also allows Macs (or I suppose any other type of hardware on your Ethernet network with TCP/IP) to connect to the Internet in this shared setup. Very cool. What's really cool, as Ositis points out on their website, "Internet access through Winproxy is virtually transparent to the network's users, they simply open their browser or e-mail application and are automatically connected to the Internet as if they had their own dedicated connection. Winproxy runs unattended as a service in the background, automatically establishing connections when required and logging off when service is no longer required." There are lots more features, but the description gets a bit technical. Go to the website for more. Installation (Grade = A+) Installing Winproxy couldn't be easier. You can download a trial file from the Winproxy website. A self extracting executable (meaning you simply double click on the file) starts the install process. An included readme file explains the many features and, based on information you provide during installation, the program creates another file with specific instructions on how to configure various web browser, e-mail readers and other programs on all the other machines on the network. Very cool. And, when you decide to spring for the registration (a whopping $59 for the Winproxy Lite version which allows up to 3 connections at once...perfect for the home network), you simply go back to their web site, fill out a form with your credit card and get a registration number e-mailed to you. The trial install then has an easy way to put in the registration number and you are set to go. Performance (Grade = A) I suppose it is really best to look at the performance in two ways. One...does the software do what the company says it can do. Absolutely. Two...how well does it work and how fast. Here is the only reason I've knocked of the (+) from my rating. In my setup, it seems that the connection sometimes hangs after a while and/or connecting with both the browser I use (MS Internet Explorer 4.0) and e-mail reader (Outlook 97). When the hang occurs, I have to go back to the machine with Winproxy installed and manually disconnect the modem. Once I go back to another machine on the network and browse or read e-mail, Winproxy again connects automatically and everything seems fine. Still, a bit of nuisance. Technical Support (Grade = A++) I can't say enough about this company's technical support. They actually answered questions within 24 hours...even when I was only using the trial version. That alone almost made me send in the $59. Wow. They also helped solve several tricky problems. Value (A+) This is the rating I reserve for judging how much you get for your money. I can't imagine a better value than Winproxy. The Lite version, perfect for home, is an absolute bargain at $59. In case you're wondering there are other proxy server software out there. In fact, Microsoft makes one. I believe the price is something like $500 which may be OK if you're hooking up a Fortune 500 company, but clearly a bit much for home. Ositis apparently saw the niche and nailed it. If you have more than one computer on a network and want both to share internet access with a single modem and phone line, then this is the product you want. Buy it. Quick Facts
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