Problems Setting Up a Wireless Network?

I recently purchased a D-Link DIR 301 wireless router starter pack from PC World at around £40 as I wanted to give my neighbour and friend free internet access as hes a bit strapped for cash having 3 kids and 1 dog to look after on his pittance of a wage (Hi John)… also because he wanted to try online dating (i suggest pleantyoffish.com). Anyway, I digress.

The setup of this wireless router was simple enough and I was happily up and running connecting my iphone to the network and surfing from the comfort of my living room, however getting Johns pc to play properly was another story. As part of helping out a friend I updated his PC to Windows XP from 98 and did my usual trick of maxing out the speed by turning off services… the net result was that I just couldn’t get the wireless dongle to work. so a quick email to DLink support later and here’s the fix which I thought id publish to help out others.

Click on start >> run >> services.msc and then click OK
- IN services window scroll down the window to bottom and you will find “Wireless Zero Configuration”
- Double click on it >> click on START (if START is blurred then click on STOP and then again CLICK on START)
- Click on OK at bottom when service is started again
- Close the services window
- Click on Start >> run >> ncpa.cpl and click on OK
- Right click on wireless ICON and click on Properties
- Click on Wireless network TAB
- Remove all ICONS from Preferred networks and mike that box empty
- In Wireless network window make sure that “USE Windows to configure my Wireless Network is Checked In”
- Then click on OK at bottom
- Again Right Click on Wireless Icon and Click on “View Available wireless Networks”
- Find Your wireless network and get connected to it By highlighting your wireless network and click on Connect

UPDATE: For some reason I had Excellent signal strength but the network kept showing “limited or no connectivity” after a bit of digging around I discovered that the “Wireless Zero Configuration” service had stopped even tho’ it was set to start automatically so if you have this issue just right click > properties and select START.