[George]

Hi all,

lonny, thanks for the recommendations above. I tried them both and it was actually fun playing around with them.

Spiceworks
It's free and it is really powerful. It is web-based and the user target group are sysadmins that need control of their local company networks. It really offers a lot of features (e.g. a help desk app and tons of reports). I found it to be overkill for my home network and the learning curve to steep for what I wanted.

Network Magic
I am using a D-Link router so I did not get a free copy of it. The free trial version however that you can download from Pure Networks is doing the job too (I could not find out in what way this trial version expires or has less features). This product is exactly what I would be looking for in order to manage my home network. It is easy to install and use. It offers a great visual network map, alerts and reports. You can restrict computers from accessing the internet and see who is using how much download size. NM is available for Windows and Mac. I tested it on a network with Windows PCs, Mac PCs and PS-3 game consoles. All devices were correctly discovered and shown.

Note: I actually liked the product that much that I purchased a license for NM 5.5 for 39 dollars. The license key worked on every installation on each of my Windows workstations but not on the Mac. I have opened a ticket for that. Will report back on this here.