? For The I.t. Folks

[P51tj]

Laptop has a 54g 802.11b/g wireless thingie that should get the net when in a WiFi zone.

- Is this a correct statement? :wacko:

- Is anything else needed?

- Anything else I should do besides throwing it away?

Please remember if and when you answer, that you are responding to a person that realy struggles in this area (still thinks smoke signals are cool).

Thanks in advance for any and all input!

[Guest Sidewinder]

Tim,

Are you having a problem of some sort with your laptop?

[P51tj]

Tim,

Are you having a problem of some sort with your laptop?

Yea no dances, oppps wrong subject... no problems, just trying to figure some stuff out.

[Eddie44]

I'm about as far from an IT guy as you'll get but here's my story. I have a wireless network setup in the house. My wife and I both have personal and work laptops. They all four find the network without doing anything else to them.

If you're having problems with it finding the network I would believe it's a problem with the setup on the network, not the laptop.

Cahd, Kameron where are you???

[nort99]

I'm about as far from an IT guy as you'll get but here's my story. I have a wireless network setup in the house. My wife and I both have personal and work laptops. They all four find the network without doing anything else to them.

If you're having problems with it finding the network I would believe it's a problem with the setup on the network, not the laptop.

Cahd, Kameron where are you???

And this is from a guy who has no idea how to record a tape.

[Eddie44]

I'm about as far from an IT guy as you'll get but here's my story. I have a wireless network setup in the house. My wife and I both have personal and work laptops. They all four find the network without doing anything else to them.

If you're having problems with it finding the network I would believe it's a problem with the setup on the network, not the laptop.

Cahd, Kameron where are you???

And this is from a guy who has no idea how to record a tape.

I admitted it right up front "I'm about as far from an IT guy as you'll get".

Besides, I use the laptop everyday and I had never copied tape to tape using two decks.

[Loud Pedal]

Laptop has a 54g 802.11b/g wireless thingie that should get the net when in a WiFi zone.

- Is this a correct statement? :wacko:

- Is anything else needed?

- Anything else I should do besides throwing it away?

Please remember if and when you answer, that you are responding to a person that realy struggles in this area (still thinks smoke signals are cool).

Thanks in advance for any and all input!

It depends on whether or not the network you are attempting to connect to is secured. If it is, you will have to provide a key to access it. Your home access point should DEFINATELY be secured.

Otherwise it's pretty much plug-n-chug provided your network settings are set to automatically obtain protocol information.

[jstrutt]

Please remember if and when you answer, that you are responding to a person that realy struggles in this area (still thinks smoke signals are cool).

Did someone say Free Post or Smoke Signal?

[knkayotte]

Depends what you mean by WiFi zone. If you mean WiFi Internet service provider, then no. But, if you mean a purposely unsecured network like a "Hotspot", then yes (this is what I figure your talking about).

In your system tray (where your clock is) you should have an Icon that represents your wireless adapter (looks like a little computer sending signals). When you double click on it, it should bring up a window showing you all the wireless networks within it's reach, it will also tell you if they are secured or unsecured (which means you should be able to hook up to it). Depending on where you are, you could have a bunch of signals.

Don't worry, it's nothing complicated, it's just a screen with a list of the signals it sees.

If there are multiple signals, it may not hook up automatically to the network you want to jump on to, especially if it's the first time your using it.

The computer will wait for you to tell it which signal to connect to. When you find the signal you want, all you should have to do is double click on it OR click on it once then click on the Connect button.

If it's a unsecured network/wireless signal, it should begin to automatically acquire an IP address, then connect. Should be good to go after that. If it's secured, you'll get prompted to enter a set of numbers and/or letters called a "key", you'll have to get this from the person who setup the wireless network.

If your hooking up to your own wireless network via a wireless router, you should see the name of the router, it should also have the strongest signal strength. If this is the case, then let us know cause that's a whole other topic will have to walk you through to secure it.

Other Misc Info:

Also important to note, some built in wifi cards have an on/off switch on the side of the laptop, make sure yours is on.

Also, once you've established a wireless network connection, most of the time the computer will automatically hook up to that signal when it sees it again.

One more thing to confuse you, what I described above is XP's generic wireless adapter interface, I've seen some proprietary adapter interfaces that do not use XP's built in service (I have no idea why), but it's pretty much all the same.

One more more thing to confuse you it is possible to setup a wireless network to not broadcast it's signal, but I have a feeling this doesn't concern you or doesn't apply in your case, just letting you know.

Keith

[Phill's Vette]

I use a program called Network Magic. Works very well and takes the guess work out of Wireless and wired networks. It will even fix it's self when something goes wrong and easily reconnect you to your LAN. It is also VERY secure - you can set it so your network is Invisible to hackers and it will tell you if someone does try to connect to your LAN and has secure file and printer sharing between the computers on you network I have been using Network Magic for a good 2 yrs and really like it, as does everyone else that I know who use it.

Go to this link: NetworkMagic and you can down load and use free for 30 days. After 30 days I think the cost is $29 for 3 pc's and $49 for 8. One time fee!!

Secured home network is an absolutle must!!

Good Luck!

[P51tj]

All is well now and thanks to all that responded. There was a quick access button on the top row of buttons with a wireless icon on it. Amazing how it works when you press that!!! Thanks again!