I lent my boyfriend my laptop because he has to go to a week long class for work. Right now he's at the hotel and he can't get connected to the internet supposedly due to a firewall impeding him from connecting. He has disabled it and he still can not get on. Does anyone have any ideas of things he can do to get connected? I have only ever used my wifi connection at home and have no idea what he can do to get connected.
Any help at all would be greatly appreciated
If the laptop picks up a connection but it unable to connect, then you need a password known as a WEP key. The reception desk should have this information.
well, in an emergency, he can use msconfig to disable all non-essential startups. This will leave the computer completely unprotected, so he'll need to scan for viruses and trojans when he gets home.
ColinC is quite correct concerning firewall; crank that sucker back up. To set DHCP, go to Control Panel | Network Connections | Right-click Local Area Connections | Properties | Double-click Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) | Obtain IP Address Automatically and Obtain DNS Server Address Automatically radio buttons should be checked. OK all the way out; your laptop now has DHCP enabled. Try to connect again; should work this time.
Just one other thing ... you may want him to write down the original settings first before changing your home setup. This way, you can return settings to original values when you get the laptop back.
Check your access points for unsecured connections, otherwise use netstumbler to tunnel under those password required sites
from the control panel access all connections and windows should search for new access points. Of course you usually have to pay for using the access point which has to be set up through the reception desk.( happy surfing). If all else fails most Hotels have computer terminals available for free use in their lobby's.
His firewall should NEVER be turned off. On wireless this is even more important, it could let someone trash the machine. He must turn it back on, Go to the firewall configuration in control panel. Under advanced there should be an option to allow dhcp, it may be in a list to add as an exception. The hotel may be using encryption, they should for safety. If not he should be able to use the wireless utility to find and connect to the hotel system. If they are they should be able to give him the key, use the utility and enter the key.