Many laptops and tablets come with Wi-fi built in these days.  In fact it is practically an assumed feature since the point in having a mobile computer is to be mobile and free of wires.  The problem is that for some unknown reason, most laptop manufacturers install their own 3rd party software to manage wireless connections.  While some of these "utilities" have a few additional features, most of them do not work as well as the built in wireless management software that comes with windows.  The problems that many of our customers experience are:

• In-ability to connect to wireless networks
• Frequent disconnecting from wireless networks
• Difficulty in connecting to networks where the SSID is the same as another location
• Difficulty in connecting to networks where the security passphrase has changed
• Difficulty in connecting to networks where the security encryption type has changed.

The resolution to this issue in most cases is simply to uninstall the 3rd party wireless management utility and reboot the system.  Once this is complete, windows will start managing the wireless networks and from our experience, most of your issues will go away.

The procedure is to open control panel and double click "add and remove programs" or "programs and features" for windows 7.  Look through the list of programs until you find program related to your wireless management program such as "Dell WLAN Utility" or "Dell Wireless Lan Card".  The names will vary considerably between models and manufacturers but it should be pretty easy to spot.  Many times they will be deceptive in the name so that it includes the word "card" so it sounds like a driver for the card.  You might think, "I don't want to uninstall my wireless card" but usually that is not the case.  If you do (there are a few that actually link the drivers to the utility), windows will automatically try to re-install the card upon boot up.  Worst case scenario, just put in your system drivers disk and re-install the utility.  (This rarely is necessary).

Once the 3rd party utility is removed, the standard windows icon will show up near the clock and you can select and connect to the wireless network of your choice.  Be sure you have your wireless key and your system driver disk (just in case it is needed) before uninstalling the utility. 

In addition to your wireless connections working more smoothly, you will have removed yet another 3rd party program that slows your computer down.