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Microsoft BackOffice Small Business Server 4.0 VERDICT: Finally! A server package so simple, all you need to bring are some Ethernet cards and a server for a full-fledged network. Pros: Setting up a network complete with e-mail, intranet, Web hosting, and all the network monitoring you need takes hours, not days; most included applications are best of breed. Cons: Simple installation means one-size-fits-all assumptions; Set Up Computer Wizard works only under Windows 95 and NT; not all Internet service providers support SBS's Exchange Server-based mail functions. Microsoft, (800) 426-9400

Installing a network combines all the rollicking good fun of a root canal with the intellectual challenge of counting holes in an acoustic ceiling. Until now, the major stumbling block was the software. Windows NT 4.0 Server is powerful but arcane, and it lacks certain vital components most businesses require. BackOffice running on top of NT brings in many missing functions, but the care and feeding of BackOffice and NT can rapidly turn into a full-time job. What's a small-office techie or home-office habitué to do?

Microsoft comes to the rescue with its first rendition of BackOffice Small Business Server, dubbed SBS 4.0. The package includes Windows NT Server 4.0 Service Pack 3 (SP3) with a license for up to five clients (additional five-client licensing packs cost extra), and NT 4.0's file and printer sharing features. Microsoft also adds the fastest NT server around, Internet Information Server (IIS) 3.0; MS Proxy Server 1.0 for Web reporting and secure Web hosting; our favorite Web creation tool, FrontPage 97; and Internet Explorer 3.0. These tools alone give you all the power to host your own top-notch Web site, complete with site monitoring and smart performance.

Total Network Toolkit SBS 4.0 tackles small-business e-mail with Exchange Server 5.0 and Outlook 97, two powerful packages, which in spite of their limitations give users an enormous array of features: internal e-mail, Internet e-mail, shared contact address books, appointment scheduling, to-do lists, sophisticated groupware applications, and much more.

SBS also includes SQL Server 6.5, a relational database package that forms the foundation of many third-party application packages; a ho-hum fax server; a pedestrian Dial-Up Networking package that gives mobile users direct access to the server; and a unique Modem Sharing Server, which pools up to four modems on the server, allocating them to users on the network on demand. If data/fax phone lines are in short supply at your office site and you don't need more than four modems running simultaneously, Modem Sharing alone may justify the cost of SBS 4.0.

That's great, you're thinking. But you still have the headache of setting the whole thing up. Fear not, SBS 4.0 comes with so many shortcuts and wizards that setup is simple--you'll have an air-tight network in record time.