Scannify: New Android App from Connectify

Discover, manage, and connect to devices on your Wi-Fi network!

Scannify is an easy-to-use application that allows you to see and interact with your whole personal area network, right from your Android mobile device. With the flick of a finger, this powerful app shows you every computer, tablet, smartphone, and all other devices connected to your Wi-Fi network. Simply select a device, and Scannify displays all services running on the host that are available to your Android phone or tablet. Now you can see who’s on your network, share files with a desktop PC, or use your smartphone as an iTunes remote, all from this one convenient app.

Scannify even allows you to drop widgets right onto the Android desktop. This exciting feature gives you one-touch access to frequently used peers and services. Just navigate to the Android desktop and hold your finger down on an empty space to activate the Android desktop menu. Then select ‘Widget’ and choose the Scannify widget from the desktop menu. Now you can make custom widgets for any device on your network. For even quicker access, create widgets that directly launch host services like Remote Desktop directly from your Android desktop.

Head over to the Android Market to download Scannify Lite. With this version, you can discover all of the devices on your Wi-Fi network, and even connect to web services running on remote machines. Upgrading to Scannify Premium unlocks powerful features while also removing ads from the user interface. The Premium version of Scannify will allow you to not only see who is on your Wi-Fi network but also connect to services such as:

• Web (HTTP and HTTPS)
• Music streaming (DAAP, all versions of iTunes prior to 7.0, and most other non-iTunes music software)
• File sharing via FTP, TFTP, or FTPS
• Remote Desktop (VNC)
• Remote Shell (Telnet and SSH)

Download Scannify today, and get the most out of your Personal Area Network!

Connectify Downloaded More than Google Freakin' Chrome, This Week!

I heard some massive "woo-hoos" from the other side of the office a few minutes ago. In the middle of something, I didn't get up to investigate, but word quickly spread: Connectify for Windows v2.2.0 is the #32 Most Downloaded Application on Download.com! And we're talking about the big-momma list of Most Popular Windows Downloads.

To give some context here, we're just a few spots behind Adobe Flash Player, and we're actually three spots AHEAD of Google's Chrome browser. Of course, Download.com is a secondary site for folks like Google and Adobe, but still... well-played Connectify users! Let's keep the downloads coming so we can hang onto our self-satisfied smirks ;)



Connectify 2.2.0 is Here!

We are pleased to announce the release of Connectify 2.2.0, available now on download.com.

Connectify is a free Windows 7 application that turns your laptop or home computer into a real Wi-Fi hotspot to share the Internet with friends, co-workers, and mobile devices. Connectify allows you to take any available Internet connection and share it wirelessly with no additional hardware, wires, plugs, or chargers.

Download Connectify 2.2.0 today, and enjoy support for more VPN software, updated look-and-feel, better memory and resource handling, and much more!

New features in version 2.2.0.18566 include:
• Updated look-and-feel
• Installer should no longer be incorrectly flagged by Microsoft Security Essentials
• Fixed Windows XP SP3 clients not receiving DNS addresses (caused by a Windows bug)
• Fixed handling of incorrect DNS NXDomain from some name servers
• Support for more VPN software (OpenVPN)
• Better memory and resource handling, especially while using UPnP
• More icons and names for vendors

Hey, Microsoft: Connectify is 100% Spyware/Malware Free!

Ah, Mondays.

I got into the office early this morning, fresh and ready to tackle the various projects at-hand. Instead, I was met by a flurry of IMs informing me that over the weekend, Microsoft Security Essentials had updated their malware definitions to include our advertising partner, OpenCandy.

To be clear, the OpenCandy platform is NOT malware, and Connectify does not contain any kind of spyware whatsoever. We’ve made doubly sure of that. However, OpenCandy DOES provide the revenue-stream that allows us to keep Connectify totally free to the end-user. Here’s how it works:

When you run an installer powered by OpenCandy, it asks its servers for a list of applications that the developer of the software you’re installing has chosen to recommend for your language, operating system and country. At this point, you can choose whether you want to install the recommended software or not. OpenCandy fully ensures that all software being recommended on their network passes strict policies, “enforcing honesty, transparency and a top-notch user experience.” Additionally, OpenCandy doesn’t collect any personally identifiable information.

If you’re a Connectify user and you’re running Microsoft Security Essentials, you may now see the below warning pop-up:

From the “Select an action” drop-down box, click “Allow.” Microsoft is definitely mistaken here. I mean, they use OpenCandy themselves to promote the Bing Toolbar... seriously!

Update: Alex clicked 'allow' as I was posting this today, and a few hours later... Microsoft Security Essentials is still hanging, and won't even allow for Ctrl+Alt+Del or Shutdown. Surprise, surprise. We'll have to defer to the folks at Microsoft on this one!

Extend the Range of your Home or Office Wi-Fi with Connectify!

In the video below, Connectify CEO and all-around tech-guy, Alex Gizis explains how to extend the range of any home or office Wi-Fi network using Connnectify. The best part? It's totally free! Just fire up your Windows 7 PC, and the Connectify software [available here], and you're ready to boost your Wi-Fi signal to reach the elusive guest bedroom or backyard bbq...

Haynie's Hypothesis Part 01: The Personal(ized) Computer

At Connectify, we're lucky to work with some of the smartest, quirkiest, and coolest people around. The one staff member who truly embodies all of those qualities is our lead engineer, Dave Haynie. Besides having developed some of the most iconic personal computers of the '80s and '90s, Dave is a seasoned musician, documentary filmmaker, and the kind of guy that'll give you a Wikipedia-like response to the most esoteric question. Anyway, Dave spends a lot of the day staring at complicated schematics and tiny circuit-boards, but we're hoping to pull him away twice-a-month, to write about whatever he wants to, in a guest column that we're going to call, Haynie's Hypothesis.

Hello, Connectify blog readers! My name is Dave Haynie, and I've been an engineer, on the team here since the beginning. It's also worth noting that I've been around the personal computer industry in one way or another, since its inception. When I was a kid, I used to work on crazy projects all the time. On one occasion, I built a bomb that blew a hole in our street (back when home bomb-making was a bit more socially acceptable). I also constructed a variety of vehicles, including rafts and rocket cars. Mostly, however, I was fascinated by electronics. I built a radio for a science project in fourth grade, a laser for the junior high science fair, and at least one digital clock, among other things, every year of high school. I can also recall a  whole series of attempts to make a working electronic drum, and another run of pretty successful shocking devices (each one delivering hundreds or thousands of volts into friends, my poor sisters, etc.) 

But along the way, I discovered computing, about as early as a kid could discover computing in those days. When I was twelve years old, my dad was able to let me access a scientific mainframe computer at Bell Laboratories, on the weekends. This was a class ‘time-share’ system: the computer was who-knows-where (somewhere in the old Bell Labs building in Holmdel, NJ, that once housed 10,000 employees... they're turning that into a shopping center I hear), and you accessed it via a printing terminal. I started with games, and got bored pretty quickly. So then I took them apart, and learned some BASIC and FORTRAN.

Gaming on-the-go, with Connectify!

Ever since its very first beta release, we’ve seen people use Connectify in some pretty unique ways. Recently, the gaming community has really embraced the capabilities of our software, using it to connect Playstations, Xbox 360s, and other consoles to the internet, where no wired connection is available. With only a mobile broadband card, or even just a tethered mobile phone, gamers are now able to bring their massively multi-player worlds with them, on-the-go.

In the video below, Connectify CEO [and card-carrying tech whiz] Alex Gizis explains how to Connectify an XBox 360 with a Cricket 3G mobile broadband card, to play Call of Duty: Black Ops online. We've always known that Connectify is capable of some amazing feats, but getting gamers out of the basement...



Streamline your life, with Connectify.

If 2010 has taught us anything, it’s that technology is becoming increasingly present in every aspect of our lives. More so than ever, we’re streaming our entertainment at the touch-of-a-button, interacting with friends via social media during our daily commute, and conducting business while enjoying an in-flight movie. Still, all this convenience does come at a cost. From juggling between several mobile devices, to wrangling wi-fi signals on-the-go, sometimes the headache can be as omnipresent as the technology itself. Fortunately, with Connectify and a Windows 7 PC, you can make the stress of networking disappear at the click-of-a-button. Here are some nifty tips for streamlining you life using Connectify in the new year:

Extend the range of your home or office network
Connectify comes in pretty handy when you’re trying to extend the range of an existing wi-fi network. Using the software as a repeater, you can significantly expand the reach of your home or office network. Connectify can get the internet up to your guest bedroom when the in-laws are in town, or make the web available in the backyard for your summertime barbecue.

Turn your mobile broadband card into a hotspot
Are you using a mobile broadband card to stay connected on-the-go? Set Connectify to re-broadcast this 3G/4G signal, and voila, you’ve got a mobile hotspot that any device can latch onto. Just think, now you can play multi-player XBox Live games anywhere you go... the possibilities are endless!

Get yourself Connectified
These days, we walk out the door carrying much more than just our cell phones. Even the least tech-savvy folks out there are now attached to their media players and wi-fi enabled cameras; not to mention laptops, netbooks, and iPads. When hotel wi-fi networks and expensive airport hotspots limit you to a single connection to the internet, it can be impossible to get all of these various devices online. However, with Connectify installed on a Windows 7 laptop, anyone can transform that single connection into a secure wi-fi hotspot that all of your devices can connect to simultaneously.

Offline Networking
Even without an active Internet connection, you can still run a Connectify hotspot. This provides wireless access to shared folders, printers, and drives on your network, as well as the ability to play LAN games with others.

Download the latest version of Connectify here, and tell us how you use Connectify to take the ‘work’ out of networking!

Posted by Raj