So confused about connecting wirelessley

Hi, this is quite a long story so please try to bear with me ad all will be
explained. I will try to remember to tell you everything you might need to
help me resolve this problem.
I was asked to "clean" a friend's laptop as it was running very very slow.
She is not computer savvy at all and I work on them all the time and have
done this endless times. The laptop in question is a Sony PCGZ1XSP running
Windows XP. SO I was expecting it to take me an hour tops but obviously had
to connect to the internet first to download the "cleaning tools" - this is
where I had my first problem. I couldn't connect. Now it was fine yesterday
and connected fine. Let me explain about our network - we have to networks, a
home one and a business one. The home one can be accessed in the house or the
detached office so this is the one she has been using. It was fine. So I try
to connect and I get one of two things, either a list showiong the connection
available or the same box with nothing at all. This is random. When I hilight
a network I then have to tick the box that says to allow me to connect to
this network even tough it may not be secure. I then click connect. Then I
get a bubble in the bR corner saying ONe or more network connections are
available and to click here to see them. The red cross has gone off the
little icon too but it is not connected. That's another thing - there are two
little computer icons identical in the BR corner - but when I hover the mouse
one is Wireless network connectio and the other is Local Area connection (a
cable is unplaugged)
On the Network connections screen I have sevral connections mostly broadband
or dial up which I do not touch. There are three under Highspeed/ LAN
connections - 1. Wireless Network Connection - Wireless connection
unavavilable
2. Local Area Connection - Network cable unplugged
3. 1394 Connection - disabled.

I am usually pretty OK with sorting this kind of thing out but this has well
and truly got me puzzled. I really would appreciate any help offered.

Thank you IA
--
debb

Hi
After cleaning some of the network Stacks might be corrupted and need
refresh.
http://www.ezlan.net/clean.html#refreshnet
General WinXP Network care, http://www.ezlan.net/debug.html
Jack (MS, MVP-Networking)

"debb" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:75B7E1D5-9CDE-40E3-87C3-(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi, this is quite a long story so please try to bear with me ad all will
> be
> explained. I will try to remember to tell you everything you might need to
> help me resolve this problem.
> I was asked to "clean" a friend's laptop as it was running very very slow.
> She is not computer savvy at all and I work on them all the time and have
> done this endless times. The laptop in question is a Sony PCGZ1XSP running
> Windows XP. SO I was expecting it to take me an hour tops but obviously
> had
> to connect to the internet first to download the "cleaning tools" - this
> is
> where I had my first problem. I couldn't connect. Now it was fine
> yesterday
> and connected fine. Let me explain about our network - we have to
> networks, a
> home one and a business one. The home one can be accessed in the house or
> the
> detached office so this is the one she has been using. It was fine. So I
> try
> to connect and I get one of two things, either a list showiong the
> connection
> available or the same box with nothing at all. This is random. When I
> hilight
> a network I then have to tick the box that says to allow me to connect to
> this network even tough it may not be secure. I then click connect. Then I
> get a bubble in the bR corner saying ONe or more network connections are
> available and to click here to see them. The red cross has gone off the
> little icon too but it is not connected. That's another thing - there are
> two
> little computer icons identical in the BR corner - but when I hover the
> mouse
> one is Wireless network connectio and the other is Local Area connection
> (a
> cable is unplaugged)
> On the Network connections screen I have sevral connections mostly
> broadband
> or dial up which I do not touch. There are three under Highspeed/ LAN
> connections - 1. Wireless Network Connection - Wireless connection
> unavavilable
> 2. Local Area Connection - Network cable unplugged
> 3. 1394 Connection - disabled.
>
> I am usually pretty OK with sorting this kind of thing out but this has
> well
> and truly got me puzzled. I really would appreciate any help offered.
>
> Thank you IA
> --
> debb