Which Connection Manager
There are basically two types of wireless (Wifi) connection managers:
- the native Windows wireless connection manager
- manufacturers' wireless connection managers
We recommend using the native Windows wireless connection manager. Although this is a bare-bones utility, we have found that it generally works reliably.
Most wireless interfaces ship with their own wireless connection manager utility, be they PCI cards, USB, PCMCIA, built-ins, etc. These utilities can be from Intel, D-Link, Netgear, Linksys, etc., and are usually installed automatically when you install a wireless interface. All of these utilities will try to make themselves the default wireless manager.
If your computer is using a wireless manager other than the one that ships with XP, we recommend that you activate and use the Windows wireless manager instead.
Activate the Windows Connection Manager
To activate the Windows wireless manager, launch Control Panel > Network Connections, right-click on your Wireless Network Connection and select properties. Under the Wireless Networks tab, find and check Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings.
Troubleshooting
The competing wireless utility may pop up a message explaining that you are selecting a different wireless manager. Read the message carefully and be sure to select the correct button which indicates that you do know what you're doing. Using the native Windows wireless manager has proven to be more reliable in general.
Some wireless management utilities, such as one from Intel, remove the Wireless Networks tab from the Wireless Network Connection Properties page. To get it back, you need to do the following: Launch Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Services. Find and start "Wireless Zero Configuration" service. Then go to Wireless Network Connection Properties, Wireless Networks tab, and check "Use Windows to configure my wireless network settings".
Third party connection managers will often make themselves the active connection manager when they run, so it is important not to run these troublemaking utilities again after you make the above changes! The Netgear utility, for sure, is one of these.
In general, it's better if you just remove this utility from the "Startup" folder rather than try to uninstall it. If you try to uninstall it, it will probably also remove the driver which you still need. Just remove it from your Windows Startup folder.
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