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It's not enough to just plug in your wireless card
the first time you use it -- you need to put in the CD it came with and install
the drivers. If you've already done that and there's still nothing happening,
then you might need to update your drivers by paying a visit to the
manufacturer's website. Note that the
instructions below apply to Windows XP. If you're determined not to use
Windows XP, then what you need to do next will be different depending on your
wireless equipment's manufacturer -- you should take a look at your manual.
Use the Wireless Network Setup Wizard
While it's easy to use Windows to connect to an
existing wireless network, you still need to create the wireless network to
begin with. Don't worry -- once you've created it once, your whole network will
be able to connect to and remember it, even if the computer you used to create
the network is never switched on again.
The easiest way to open the Wireless Network
Setup Wizard is through the Start Menu: go to All Programs, Accessories, then
Communications, and you'll find it there. If you can't find it, you might need
to visit Microsoft's Windows Update at http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com
to get it.
The first thing to do when the wizard appears
is read the welcome message, and click Next. Type a name for your network --
anything will do, as long as it's relatively unique to you. You're allowed up to
32 letters to express yourself, but remember that your neighbours might get to
see this name at some point! If you bought equipment with WPA (stronger
encryption), tick that box. Click Next again.
Unless you have a USB flash drive (it's
unlikely), choose the option for manual setup. Don't worry -- it's just a matter
of printing out some settings and entering them into your other computers. If
you don't use encryption, you can usually skip this step.
It Still Doesn't Connect
On one of your other computers, right-click on
the wireless icon in the bottom-right corner of your screen -- it looks like a
small computer with two lines on the right of it. On the menu that appears,
click 'View Available Wireless Networks'. Now, you should see a list of the
wireless networks your computer is in range of. Look for the name of your own
network. This will be the name you typed in the setup wizard earlier or, if you
use a router, it will probably be the name of your wireless equipment's
manufacturer.
Note that this is the screen to come to if you
ever want to connect to a wireless network other than your usual one -- just
double click the one you want, wait a while, and it should work.
The most common problem is to find that your
computer is trying to connect to another network near you, usually one belonging
to your neighbours. If their wireless network has an unnecessarily wide range,
it's not at all unusual for you to be able to receive their signal in your house
-- I sometimes find as many as five networks in my area available to connect to.
Fun as it would be, though, to go through all their shared files, your priority
right now is getting their wireless network out of the way to let you connect to
your own.
Getting on Your Network
To make sure Windows knows which network is
yours, you need to click 'Change the order of preferred networks' on the left of
the available networks screen. You should click the 'Add' button to add the name
of your network to this list, and use 'Remove' to take away any that aren't
yours.
When you've highlighted your network, click
Properties, and then go to the Connection section. Make sure 'Connect when this
network is in range' is ticked. If all else fails, you might have to take your
printout from the Wireless Network Setup Wizard and enter that information on
each computer.
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