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Conclusion

My advice to you?  Try it out yourselves.  On Wingate’s download page right –Here- they let you download and try out a 30-day evaluation version.  If you are at all interested in this piece of software I suggest you try it out for yourselves, because that’s really the only way you will be able to tell if this fits your needs.

Basically there are 3 different ways to share an Internet connection:

     1.)     Buy an IP address from your ISP for each PC on your network.
     2.)     Buy a hardware Router device with built in NAT.
     3.)     Set up a computer to act as an Internet Sharing NAT server or Proxy server.

Wingate falls in the category of Number 3.  It’s a powerful piece of software that acts as a Proxy/NAT server on one computer to share out an Internet connection translating from one IP to an Internal Network of IP’s.  It’s incredibly tweakable, there are many settings to make sure this will work and do what you need it to on your LAN. 

It has features Galore, from DHCP to DNS to being a NAT or Proxy and having a powerful firewall that works.  Their website is full of very usefull information and documentation to help you set this up and to help you decide which version will work best for you.

Pros:

• Small application size, not a resource hog
• Fast and Simple setup
• Powerful piece of software for any size LAN
• NAT or Proxy Capable
• Firewall that works
• Plug-Ins to expand feature set
• Services worked without a problem

Cons:

• Can be expensive if you have a lot of computers to network
• Having to install the Same setup for the clients and the server (it’s too big to fit on a floppy disk)
• Some time out and DNS issues with Windows2000
• Home version limited at 6 client computers
• Server has to be on 24/7 in able for the clients to surf the web

Rating
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Features:
Setup Ease:
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