Need help with this whole wireless thing...

I just purchased my first laptop (a Dell Studio 1737) and I just need to know the basic sequence to be able to connect to the Internet and start accessing sites. I looked through the manual and have been trying to find on-line resources for this but the manual is pretty useless and the on-line stuff I've found it is over my head and I just want to know the basics and if I'm doing something stupid wrong.

My Dell came with a Intel®WiFi Link 5100 802.11agn Half Mini-Card and I assume that's all I need to successfully connect but I'm not even sure of that.

What I have been able to do, so far, is go to my Start menu, click "Connect to", find an available wireless network and connect. It looks like I'm successfully connecting as it says I am. Before I continue, it looks like there are secure wireless networks and non secure networks and every secure network is asking me for a password and the non-secure networks do not ask me for a password and then successfully connect. Is it a big mistake to connect to non-secure wireless networks? I don't know anything about it. Am I opening my computer up to every hacker in the neighborhood just waiting for some sucker like me to log onto this network and then load my computer up with spyware and viruses, etc...??

Otherwise, after connecting, I open the IE (already installed on the computer) type in a URL and go nowhere? Are there some steps I'm missing here? Do I need some settings in my browser for this to work now? I feel like a complete idiot and just getting frustrated here.

I would appreciate any assistance to either point me in the right direction to either learn how to do this or if there's something simple I'm doing wrong to tell me the necessarily steps to what I thought was a simple procedure.

Help....

 

Do you personally own or have a legal right to connect to any of those networks?

 

I'm guessing we're not talking about your own wireless router here?

The secured networks are obviously other people's (or business') networks that you're not supposed to be connecting to. Forget about them. As far as the unsecured networks, if you're talking about public wifi hotspots (like a coffee shop or library or something) then you will be able to connect to those without a key. So far as how secure they are, well I'd certainly not do anything on a network like that that I didn't want the world to see...because they just might.

If those unsecured networks are just your lazy neighbors, then you've no legal right to connect to them and if they caught you they could probably cause you some level of trouble. There are laws in most areas prohibiting unauthorized network use.

Do you have your own wireless network?

 

Oops, that's why I'm asking. I really am just stumbling my way through, how to do this. So I'll add that to my list of things not to do. I assumed the wireless networks I could see were the ones people were fine sharing, like an open source type thing. But what you're saying is the opposite.

Anyway, as far as the second part of the question, browser settings etc. I plan to make this work somehow, by going to Starbucks or wherever I need to go as I need to at least do the minimum Windows, updates on my computer to Service Pack 2. etc...

So any help on a step by step procedure for this would be appreciated.

 

To answer your question, I have a wireless network at work, though it's not mine personally. As stated above, I'm planning to find a legit hotspot and do it there. I just don't want to get there and not know how to connect.

 

Legit hotspots include places like bars, libraries, schools, and restaurants/coffee shops that put these things in place as a convienence for their paying customers. If you see that a dumb neighbor has left their wireless open it's not ok (illegal and on shaky moral ground) to connect.

 

That's fine. I wasn't really trying to be accusatory. You just didn't seem to know what networks you were trying to connect to.

The most general answer I can provide is that you use your notebooks wireless utility (usually in the tray area) to show the wireless networks in range. Select the one you want to connect to and hit Connect. If the network is secured, you'll be prompted for a network key. Enter it. If it's open, it should simply establish a connection and acquire an IP address. Some public hotspots (particularly Hotels) may route you initially to an internal web site where you'll have to accept some terms of service.

That's all there is to it. If you're doing these things (and in you original post it sounds like you are) and you're still not able to connect or browse, then one thing to check for is an IP address assigned to you wireless adaptor. Go to Start-->Run, and type CMD into the box. In the DOS window type "ipconfig /all" (without the quotes). Are you getting an IP address for the wireless adaptor? Something like 10.x.x.x, or 192.x.x.x, or 172.x.x.x? Or all zeros? Or 169.x.x.x? A 169 address indicates that you're not being assinged an IP address from the network's DHCP server. If you have all 0's or a 169.x.x.x address try releasing and renewing your IP address by typing "ipconfig /release" and then "ipconfig /renew". Did you get a good address after that?

For a work-related wireless AP there may indeed be some other unknown hoop you must jump through. Consult your IT dept. For a public AP it should simply be as easy as what you were already doing. For some unknown AP that you're simply trying to get onto because it's there, well who knows?

 

Again, I'm not familiar with how this works but it says Media State is Media Disconnected, there is nothing in Connection specific DNS Suffix, The physical address is there starting with 00-22-FB... does that tell you anything?..

 

Well, the 00-22-FB...is the MAC address, or hardware address. Every NIC has its own unique MAC address embedded within it. Media Disconnected just means that you're not connected to any networks.

Just curious, but does your laptop have a physical switch to turn on/off the wireless adapter? (Or if not a physical switch, then a function key toggle.)

 

Yes, it has a physical switch, that I turn on, which allows me to even see the available wireless networks.