Overview

WinGate is an advanced Internet gateway server that facilitates the process of administering, protecting, and supervising the Internet usage of a computer network. It gives you the ability to share and manage Internet connectivity between multiple computers over a single Internet connection.

Installation

With a file size of about 25 MB, this program is very light on system resources and has a quick and hassle-free download/installation process. Compatible with Windows 2000, XP, 2003, Vista, and 7 (both 32-bit and 64-bit).

Interface

The WinGate user interface has everything one could want in an administrative control panel, with a massive navigational channel on the left side of the main window that displays expandable lists of feature sets organized by category. The Getting Started screen walks you through the process of configuring network adapters, installing/configuring services, and setting web access policies. From there you can examine some of the help topics and key concepts listed along the bottom of the welcome screen.

Pros

• Lets you establish fully manageable and secure Internet access for an entire network of computers using one or more Internet connections

• Allows for bandwidth usage supervision on a per-service and per-user basis, and automatically generates audit logs that record this information

• Secures your network to prevent the downloading of malicious software and unwanted content

• Protects Web servers from both internal and external threats

• Simplifies the process of administering internal networks

• Lets you set advanced acceptable use policies and restrictions regarding access control, so you can determine who is allowed to do what on your network

• Enhance network responsiveness and overall performance using web/DNS caching

• Allows network users to connect to multiple Internet connections simultaneously

• Supports Web server access behind firewalls

• Offers useful user accounting and traffic monitoring features

• Includes a task scheduler that lets you automate network administration duties

• Provides real-time activity monitoring as well as user auditing/logging, so you can see what's going on while it's happening and refer back to it later to analyze network usage in retrospect

• Application execution control lets the administrator quickly terminate any suspicious processes on any computer on the network

• Server redundancy options give you the ability to automatically migrate your operations to a backup server in the event of unexpected downtime

Cons

• With so many features it can be difficult to become acquainted with the more advanced options, as most users will find no use for them. Nonetheless, having access to these features would be considered a plus by more experienced network administrators.

Alternatives

There are a few other applications that provide similar features to WinGate, including Untangle and AnalogX Proxy. However, there are many applications out there that offer an all-inclusive solution that is on par with WinGate, as a simple glance at the navigational pane reveals the incredible amount of features that users have at their fingertips.

Conclusion

WinGate successfully accommodates the demanding security, control, and communication preferences/needs of today's Internet business owners. If you want to gain complete control over your network to maximize productivity and redundancy, this software is definitely worth a trial run.