October 01, 2009, 11:48 AM — Do you need help for your help desk? Are you drowning in calls but don’t want to purchase expensive software to manage them? Have trouble getting your wireless networks supported in all of your remote offices? Here are two free tools for you.
The first is SysAid, a Web-based help desk program that is from Ilent, an Israeli company. What makes this worthy is that first you can try it out before you buy with various online demos of SysAid here from the perspective of a user, an administrator, or a CTO looking at a summary dashboard. Second, the product is free for limited purposes, such as less than 100 desktops and for unmonitored servers. There are paid editions that include on-demand software that doesn't require any downloading. The free edition comes in either Windows or Linux versions, and doesn't have any expiration dates or adware, which is also nice.
The other tool is called Network Magic (pictured below) and is from Cisco, and included for free as part of all new Linksys routers. The paid version (which starts at $30), adds more protective features along with the ability to test your connection speed, protect your shared folders when you are roaming on another network, and adds support for shared Mac files and printers. It is a great little piece of software that is good for those situations where you have inexperienced wireless users in odd corners of your enterprise that don't have access to a full-fledged IT help desk to handle their issues.
