Why are there 2 Wireless connections in Vista

I just did a clean install of Vista Ultimate 64 on my 7805, there are 2 copies of the wireless network showing. I haven't set up anything funky, just the net drivers and the 400MB or so of Vista updates. One has the SSID listed, the other says Unidentified network, but if I look at the details, they have the same adapter, same IP everything. Being very finicky about on my computer, I HATE having this and not knowing why its there. I want ONE adapter, and ONE set of routing information. Not some fancy stuff Vista is trying to do in the background and not telling me. Anyone know what it is and how the hell I can fix it? I know I could probably merge the two, but where the F did the copy come from?

 

Well, it was one of a few options in the Intel driver I had changed, I set them all back to default and it went away. I'm so pissed at the stupid driver I don't even want to figure out which it was.

 

Why is it that people always blame Windows?

The Network SSID and the "Unidentified Network" you're seeing are probably 1 or 2 neighboring networks - you didn't think you had the only Wireless Network in your area, DID YOU???

Unless you have your own unique Router SSID being broadcast, using the default SSID of the Router (Linksys, e.g.) can lead you to see and/or connect to the wrong network. If the same IP Address you're seeing is 192.168.1.1, that's the IP address for most Routers, or specifically their local access IP address on their own particular LAN's. That's the address you'd use to access the Router's Admin Panel to set it up. You can see 2 networks with that same IP, but they're not the same.

With today's Wireless N networks, Signal Strength and Range are greatly increased, and where you couldn't see a neighboring network before, it's becoming more and more common. I always tell clients to setup their own specific and unique SSID for their Router and broadcast it so that there is no question as to what network they're connecting to. Most people tend to just leave the default SSID in place, plug in the Router and try to connect to "Linksys" or whatever the default is. They never consider that there are MILLIONS of others out there with the same type of Router with the same default SSID. They then connect to the wrong network, then spend forever wondering why their connection is so slow and their signal so weak.

So to be sure you're seeing your own network, give it an SSID only you'd recognize - having a Dual-Band network, I use variations of my business name for each network SSID. Don't use your name or address - use something identifiable by you only, but nothing that's personal info. Make sure your Router is set for broadcast.

 

Given that the AP I'm connected to on both has the same MAC address, the same IP address, and if I disconnect one(the one I want) I can't connect to a website/DNS etc. I also don't have my PC set to connect automatically, I dont want it connecting to "open" networks, thats a good way to get hacked.