WiFi Setup

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bee
  • Start date Start date
B

Bee

I have an old laptop that had wired and wireless connectivity both working.
I had to reinstall XP after formatting my HD.
Now have XP SP3 + latest security patches.
I have wired network capability ruinning IE 8 Beta2. Works fine.

1) I cannot find an icon for Wireless like on other PCs in the tray ... so,
how do I get that going? I searched Windows Help but could not find answers,
probably because I just do not know the terms to search for.

I have wifi available to try it out on.

2) I was in one wizard that did not seem to help me set wifi up say I could
use WEP or WPA secirity. Is that a software thing such that I could select
either one?
WPA is better but more difficult to set up I understand.

3) Or is this a hardware thing so I am limited to what my laptop can do.
Since it is an older laptop, how do I determine if it is WPA capable?

Very old and stupid.
Thanks in advance.
 
Bee said:
I have an old laptop that had wired and wireless connectivity both working.
I had to reinstall XP after formatting my HD.
Now have XP SP3 + latest security patches.
I have wired network capability ruinning IE 8 Beta2. Works fine.

1) I cannot find an icon for Wireless like on other PCs in the tray ... so,
how do I get that going? I searched Windows Help but could not find answers,
probably because I just do not know the terms to search for.

I have wifi available to try it out on.

2) I was in one wizard that did not seem to help me set wifi up say I could
use WEP or WPA secirity. Is that a software thing such that I could select
either one?
WPA is better but more difficult to set up I understand.

3) Or is this a hardware thing so I am limited to what my laptop can do.
Since it is an older laptop, how do I determine if it is WPA capable?

Very old and stupid.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

1. When you reinstalled Windows, you also had to reinstall drivers for
various hardware functions of your laptop. It sounds as if you didn't
reinstall the driver for the wifi adapter. Take a look in Device
Manager under Network adapters and see what's there. If there is a
wireless adapter, check its properties and ensure that it's enabled. If
you need to install the driver, be sure that you get the most recent
driver for your wifi adapter from the website of your laptop's
manufacturer -- not from Windows Update. Alternatively, most laptops
have either a physical switch of a Fn+Fkey combination that turns the
wifi radio on/off. See the user documentation for your laptop.

2. Do not use WEP. At this point, it's crackable in a few minutes with
easily available tools. WPA is not "more difficult to setup." WPA2 is
better than WPA.

3. The capability for wireless encryption depends on a combination of
hardware and software. If you have service pack 3 and all updates, you
should have all the s/w you need. Depending on how old your old laptop
really is, it may not be WPA2 capable, but it should be able to handle
WPA. Be sure that you have the most recent driver for your wifi adapter
(available from the website of your laptop's manufacturer -- not from
Windows Update).

--
Lem -- MS-MVP

To the moon and back with 2K words of RAM and 36K words of ROM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
http://history.nasa.gov/afj/compessay.htm
 
Back
Top