(optional) Harware upd. from Windows Update site?

[Papageno]

It's a driver for my USB Wireless G network adapter from Linksys, supposedly, but it's dated late last year sometime. It is more recent than the current installed driver as stated in the device manager (April 2005).

What do you think, should I take the plunge? The issue I'm having with my wireless connection sometimes is that I'll get a pop-up balloon from the system tray that'll inform me that the I'm now connected wirelessly (even though I was never informed that I wasn't). I'll see it sometimes after coming out of a single player game, for instance, but also sometimes when I'm websurfing and everything appears to be fine. Occasionally I do lose my wireless connection for no reason that I can discern, but that doesn't happen that often.

BTW, would changing the driver update the Linksys wireless network monitoring software? Because that was extreeemely flaky, so much so that I told it to hand off the monitoring to Windows.

[JMR]

Using the hardware update from Windows Update has always been a bit problematic for me so I tend to avoid it altogether these days. In the past if I did those damn hardware updates from MS I wouldn't be able to reconnect to my network for some reason which lead to me doing a system restore. These days I just grab drivers directly from the manufacturer's site.

[Coca Cola Zero]

The driver upgrade is extremely unlikely to screw anything up (in my experience, I guess JMR's is different) and may be helpful, but I doubt it will fix the specific issues you name.

If your wireless network is doing quick drop/connects its probably because the airwaves around you are really crowded, I'd suggest running one of those wireless snooper programs to see what channels seem to get the most traffic in your area and use the least crowded one.

Also it is unlikely to update the utility at all, I'm pretty sure drivers on Windows Update are just basic driver updates. In any case, the first thing I do on any new wireless setup is move the management over to Windows because every vendor's little tray-app manager that I've ever used sucks donkey balls.

[Charlatan]

It's a driver for my USB Wireless G network adapter from Linksys, supposedly, but it's dated late last year sometime. It is more recent than the current installed driver as stated in the device manager (April 2005).

What do you think, should I take the plunge?
Personally, I would go to the Linksys site and see if they have a driver update, rather than get it from Windows Update.



The issue I'm having with my wireless connection sometimes is that I'll get a pop-up balloon from the system tray that'll inform me that the I'm now connected wirelessly (even though I was never informed that I wasn't). I'll see it sometimes after coming out of a single player game, for instance, but also sometimes when I'm websurfing and everything appears to be fine. Occasionally I do lose my wireless connection for no reason that I can discern, but that doesn't happen that often.

I'm pretty sure this is caused by the dreaded Windows Zero Configuration service. From what I understand, it's always looking for networks so it can connect you to the strongest network. So if it finds other networks near you (even though you're perfectly happy with your current connection) it tries to connect to the strongest one. It also supposedly can cause periodic disconnects. If you google "Wireless Zero Configuration" you'll find tons of info, including info on how to stop it from running, like this one (http://www.ifelix.co.uk/tech/2000.html) (if you're connected to a wireless network and happy with it, you don't need WZC).

I got my son a Dell Laptop in August, and it came with an Intel/Pro wireless utility that takes the place of WZC (fortunately).

[Steve Canyon]

You can turn off those annoying messages about the status of wireless connectivity. Look in the properties for your wireless connection.

[JPR]

I agree with Coca Cola Zero and disagree with Charlatan.

The zero config service is by far the easiest, more user-friendly, less-fiddly, more effective solution than the Linksys Utility or DEFINITELY the Dell Utility. That thing was terrible, and all of the people in my group there (I worked in executive level tech support there for 3 years) immediately turned it off and used Zero Config if anybody was having flaky wireless connections.

[Alan Au]

You can turn off those annoying messages about the status of wireless connectivity. Look in the properties for your wireless connection.
You can actually turn off all of the balloon tips by adding an entry to your registry.

- Alan