There are those days when the internet stops working or works with the speed of a baby snail. In those times we all try to change the network settings like the IP address and the DNS servers to see if changing these things works. I personally use a cable modem connected through a WiFi router and so sometimes when I want to connect directly to the cable modem, I have to use a different set of network settings. But changing these settings manually is a task I do not really look forward to.
Fortunately, if you are in a similar situation like myself and have to switch to different network settings for different network adapters from time to time, then you can use a free tool called NetSetMan. This tool saves your network settings in six different sets. Anytime you want to switch to a set of settings for your Windows PC network, you can choose that set and click on the Activate button and it is done.
The first set is labeled Doppelklick which is German for Double-click. This basically means that by double-clicking on that tab you can change its name. You can change the name of any of the six sets to anything you want – probably something convenient to remember what those settings are for.
Each of these sets can contain settings for the IP Address & Gateway, WINS server, DNS server, and many additional settings like the workgroup name, default printer, WiFi network, hosts file and so on. You can switch to any of these sets even from the system tray. Just right-click on the NetSetMan icon in the system tray and choose one of the sets.
The NetSetMan is shown in the full mode by default. But if you want to change only the IP address or the DNS server and feel a little bit overwhelmed by all these extra settings then you can click on the Compact Mode near the top-right corner and switch to the compact mode of the tool. In this mode, only IP address, DNS server, and Gateway settings can be changed – keeping everything simple for everyone.
Conclusion: NetSetMan can be used to switch to different network settings for working with the different devices and the different locations. You can store up to six different sets of settings and switch to anyone of them easily.
You can download NetSetMan from http://www.netsetman.com/en/freeware.