Cannot get internet access on wireless nor local area, "unidentified"

[barooke]

Cannot get internet access on wireless nor local area, "unidentified"

I just moved to Peru for my study abroad. When I first connected to the wi-fi in my homestay I was successful. Suddenly, I cannot get internet access and it says it is an "unidentified network". I have tried manually inputting IP addresses, DNS, etc. I have tried forgetting the network and disabling my virus protection. I can't even get internet when I plug an ethernet cable into my computer, directly into the router. My laptop is the only thing that isn't working, other people's computers work and my iPod and smart phone work with the network. I have a Lenovo Win7 PC, running Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit.

 

[Night Hawk]

Hello barooke Welcome to the Seven Forums!

The place to be is in the Control Panel>Network & Sharing Center. Note the image here.

Once you click on the link you will find the troubleshooting options for internet connection at the top as well as for network adapters. If you select the network adapters option select the "all adapters" option as well as the advanced which will see the automatically fix errors box already checked off.

You should be seeing a large red X right inbetween the network name on your laptop like unknown and internet when first opened. If the first attempt using the network adapters option works that will become a solid line as seen in the image there.. Clicking on the red X itself is the same as selecting the internet connections options which also sees the automatically fix errors box checked off under Advanced.

 

[barooke]

It turned out to be an anti virus issue. I called the ISP and he gave me numbers to use for the IP, DNS, etc. At the time my avast anti virus was turned off, and I got internet access. I turned it on again and the internet stopped working so I know now that avast is blocking the wireless internet connection. I just uninstalled and I'm about to reinstall. If the problem persists what setting do I need to change to stop avast from blocking internet access?

 

[Night Hawk]

I would simply DUMP Avast right now and call it a day! There are far better programs even free av programs you can use. I place Avast down in the "McAFee2Fail" catagory.

The better freebies are the Microsoft Security Essentials or AVG's free addition with a little help from a browser addon called Web Of Trust as well as the Clam av's Internet Security Toolbar for IE however. The toolbar sounds an alert as well as the similar toolbar option seen with AVG.

For retail you can opt for one like VIPRE Internet Security 2012 which will simply prompt you when finding a new connection if you trust it with a yes or no answer and never hamper you again about it. That includes a firewall,web filtering, intrusion protection and you won't even know when it runs a scheduled scan since it runs quietly in the background.

But get rid of Avast!

 

[barooke]

Okay, I'm going to take your advice because I have heard before that MSE is really good. So MSE and WOT is sufficient for everything I need?

 

[Night Hawk]

The WOT rates sites when looking over the results seen in a search engine with a red dot for any where privacy concerns come up. Along with the MS SE for a free av program you might want to add on an extra layer of protection with a bad site alert system and why I had mentioned the Clam av's own form of addon Crawler toolbar which sounds an alarm to any malware laced sites that would dump bugs on you. http://www.crawler.com/products/

Other addon security bars like the separate downloads for the AVG toolbar as well as the Acronis Internet Security Suite Acronis being a high rated program can be looked over at Free Internet Security Toolbar Downloads: Internet Security Filter by 1st Security Software Center, Netcom Internet Security Suite by Tried Tool and More

Personally however being behind a good firewall program with web filtering is the better choice to start with when you want that extra protection over any browser addon bars. But then you also pay out for the subscription for that software as well.