Well - I tried powering everything down (unplugging router and modem). No luck.

I googled and tried various recommended fixes for close to 2 hours - nothing's working.

It keeps saying his vista laptop is connected to the network - signal strength is strong - but limited access. I'm not sure if this connection is being blocked by a firewall - but I wasn't sure what I'd suggest should be an exception if I added something. And he was able to connect before i secured the network. And we did enter our new passphrase and set it at wpa2-personal protection.

I'm doing microsoft windows updates on his computer now - which he hasn't done since March, 2009. Maybe that will help - but I suspect not.

I'm particularly stumped at how he could connect to our network (and our neighbor's unsecured network) when they're unsecured, but can't get on ours now that it's secured. Last summer we were at the beach and he was able to get onto a secure wireless network when using entering the passphrase. The problem seems to be that he was already connected to our home network - and it's acting as though it's trying to connect the old way - and not with the net encryption and passphrase we're entering.

Lynn.

Most of the time when I hear someone having such problems its a typo. They've typed in the security key wrong and swear its right.

Copy the key from the router and paste it into notepad and save it to a thrumb drive. Plug it into your vista computer....
Paste works so nice if you ctrl+v to paste if right click doesnt allow. Hard to screw up with copy and paste.

You have two encryption methods in vista i think, where you can also enter the key ,,
AES and TKIP.. look in the router at the encryption method you have chosen there and match it in Control Panel/Network & Sharing ... View status ... Wireless Property ... Security.

~~ If that doesnt work I think I would make a whole new connection. From control panels, Network & Sharing...
Setup a Connection or Network (on left in classic)
Connect to the Internet (next)
..setup a new one anyways !!

Thanks, Mikie. None of the above worked - at first, but they did lead me to a solution with just a little bit of new perspective. I typed that passphrase in about 10 different attempts. there's an option in vista to have the phrase you type appear (instead of just asterisks) - so I did that as well and could see that I typed the word in correctly.

I tried making a new connection - but our network is named linksys (I didn't change the name) - and ever time I type linksys it insists it's already connected to the network - with a strong signal - but the access is limited.

Since his computer kept acting like it wanted to access the linksys network the way it used to - and didn't seem to get past the security - I thought I had no choice but to rename the home network. I would never have thought of that if Mikie hadn't suggested making a whole new connection. I explored the various tabs in the router settings until I found one where I could rename the network. That did the trick. I was able to get my husband's laptop to form a net connection to this newly named network. Then changing the two Tivo's and my laptop were quick and easy.

Don't know why this vista laptop was such a pain - but it's just one more reason my husband regrets getting this laptop. He bought whatever they recommended at Best Buy in 2008 - and let their geek squad work on it.

I discovered some other problems while I was routing around his computer. (Someone let me know if I should have started this on another thread.) He's got remnants of McAfee antivirus - and Avast - and McAfee firewall and Windows firewall. When turning on his computer a little box opens near the task bar which says that Windows has blocked some programs (at startup?). It says to click for more information - but when we click, the box just disappears and no more information is available. I'm not sure if this is a firewall or what. I can't find what is being blocked.

Thanks everyone.
Lynn.

well good the next thing I would have suggested you try was to try using a wired connection directly from the router to the laptop and see if that helped it get things on track then from there unplug and try it, but glad you got it worked out.

are you sure it is saying it is blocking things or that the startup menu has been changed? because if you alter what you have starting up using mscofig it will pop up that warning you have to tell it just to ignore it or what ever that check box says.

you need to run revo and try to clean out all those remnants, I think if you have not run the mcafee issued removal tool I would do that first because it does work well.

You will always have windows firewall it is part of the operating system and can not be removed just turned off or on.

It is saying that windows blocked certain programs (we've never altered anything fromt he start up using misconfig. I do want to get to that for all our computers at some point bc. my desktop and my husband's laptop are particularly slow to start up. My desktop is probably over 2 minutes although i haven't timed it and I know it can feel like an eternity when you're waiting.)

Windows firewall had been turned off. I turned it back on bc. I want to remove the McAfee. I think his laptop came preloaded with McAfee - either trial or full program I don't know. When he bought his computer he had the geek squad install Trend Micro. That caused him problems within the last year, so I removed it (although there may be remnants) and installed Avast. I never realized before yesterday that he had bits of McAfee on his sytem.

I'll search the archives for the mcafee removal tool. I know I used it to get rid of my McAfee but I don't think I saved it.

I installed Revo on my laptop when I got it over a year ago. and it never seemed to do anything. Is there a way to use it - any set of instructions. Any link? Although I can search and find it.

Thanks.
Lynn.

the revo site has excellent user tutorials and guides on the site for each aspect of the program, it can do what you want for your startup menu also, it is much better to use a program like revo to change your start up menu than it is to use msconfig anyway.

Corrine did a great compilation of the removal tools so you should find what you need here
Antivirus Product Removal Tools

well I had not been to the revo site recently and they have completely redone it and I can not find any of the great user guide tutorials they had on there for each aspect of the free version of revo, that is a shame. However the faq section does answer a lot of questions
How to uninstall programs with Revo Uninstaller - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

they have made it more difficult to find the free version on the site also it is listed under the downloads tab at the top.

I thought all was well with connecting my husband to our now-secured home network. When I changed network names, I was able to establish a new wireless connection for his laptop. That was yesterday. Today it is again insisting that although the signal strength is strong and it is connected, there is limited access.

Clearly (okay - maybe not clearly - but it seems) something on his computer is blocking/limiting access to this network. It never did it when our home network was unsecured. It doesn't do that when we get on our neighbor's unsecured network. I've spent a few hours on this - and I'm stumped.

Raven - I did get the McAfee removal tool and used it. There was quite a log of removed bits of program - even though it had already been removed from add/remove programs. So now McAfee is gone - which is good since he already has Avast antivirus running. But that didn't fix the connection problem.

I tried googling - and I tried the few things I came up with earlier this week - and nothing is working.

When he starts the laptop, there is still a box that appears in the lower right corner that says Windows has blocked some programs from start up (it may say those programs need permission - hard to tell bc. the box disappears quickly). It says to click the box for more information - but clicking the box doesn't do anything. The box disappears (whether clicked or not) and no further information is displayed.

My husband is ready to call the $140/hour computer guy he knows. Anything else I can try before we do that?

Thanks.
Lynn.

yes do as I had mentioned use an ethernet cable and hook his laptop directly to the router shut down everything before you hook it up, modem, router, pc, laptop. then plug the laptop into the router with it down, power up the modem, wait till it is all lit, plug in router, again wait, power up pc and laptop, let them have plenty of time to fully load everything. then try the laptop and see if it helped.

When he starts the laptop, there is still a box that appears in the lower right corner that says Windows has blocked some programs from start up (it may say those programs need permission

In your Run box type;
msconfig

look at the startup programs tab and see what isnt running - maybe you will be able to figure out what that box is trying to tell you.

And what firewall is used? Maybe its an issue too.

agree I would try disabling his firewall and trying it to see if it is a firewall blocking problem.

if you go into your event viewer do you see any mention of that warning box you are getting in there? It usually mentions any thing like that happening.

I was able to expand the task bar and find what I had to click to see that programs were blocked at start-up. I didn't think any of those related to connecting to the network.

Having disabled whatever bit of McAfee antivirus and firewall that was there, the only firewall is Windows Firewall. If I check the firewall settings, I don't see that it's blocked this connection. Frankly, I wouldn't know what program it would say it was blocking. I think I need to have the firewall make this wireless network connection an exception to be allowed. I can get to the exceptions tab - but don't know what to enter. When I click add an exception - and browse - I don't know what to look for or enter. Would it be the name of our home network - linksys router, the router IP address (if that's it, I could use some help finding it again).

Might look at my vista laptop wifi network settings...
maybe you'll see something?

Here is a link that might be useful: my/tmp/

Lynn have you tried just turning off the windows firewall to try the connection if not do that, leave NO firewall enabled and try to connect. this will tell if it is a firewall problem and can eliminate it if it does not help.

Mikie. Thanks for that link. It helps some in terms of my navigating to certain pages - but I still couldn't connect. It helped me get to ITPv4 properties - I have it set to obtain ip addresses and dns servers automatically - that's how my router is set - and it works for my xp laptop. I tried briefly setting an IP address by just copying the info from my router - but i see that the router changes IP address, so that doesn't work.

I think setting it to automatically find addresses is the right setting.I went to the advanced TCP settings and picked the WINS tab. I tried switching to enable net bios (like you had) - but it still didn't work.I went to windows firewall setting and see that both wireless network connection and local area connection are checked already. Should I uncheck those? Is the firewall preventing my access?

The other question was that seeing your Sharing and Discovery settings - yours are different than my husband's vista settings. I tried altering it many ways - but probably lost track. Which should I have selected?
- I think on for network discovery
- now i have file sharing on - although he doesn't share files with the other computers on the network - not yet - he might want to get programs from our Tivo. Would he need to select file sharing for that?
- Public folder sharing is off
- printer sharing is off but I think I should turn it on. He used to be able to print from my printer - but that doesn't work any more either since securing the network. I think the printer has it's own wireless connection to the various devices - it's a canon mx850- I think has its own wireless connection - not sure.
- I have password protected sharing turned on
- media sharing - currently off - is this what should be on to transfer tivo programs across the network?

And very importantly - I tried turning Windows Firewall off. Didn't make a difference. Access is still "limited connectivity."

Where to now?
Thanks.
Lynn.

Just a thought, and I may be way off base since I don't know if this has anything to do with your problem or not. But under User Accounts is your husband listed as Administrator on his computer? I have no idea if this affects his ability to connect to your secured network or not, so someone can tell you if this can be a factor.

grandms - I am so unfamiliar with navigating the computer. How do I get to user accounts? It seems that he's the "administrator" - although I've been able to go in on his laptop and make changings.

So - I don't know if he's the administrator - don't know how to find that info - and don't know if it's effecting anything - but probably not.

The only thing I didn't try yet was plugging directly into the router with an ethernet cable. I could do it - but it makes no sense to me - the problem seems in the security and wireless access. Computer guy thought they were two different things - so getting on the router with a cable wouldn't enlighten/alter the fact that it isn't accessing wirelessly. Maybe I'll try anyway.

Still wonder about the Sharing and Discovery settings I asked about in my post before this one.

Thanks.
Lynn.

Will the laptop connect directly to the modem with an Ethernet cable or have we already gone through this.

Yes - the laptop will connect directly to the modem. Actually - it's not the modem I tried. I had it directly connected with an ethernet cable to the router - and it worked. I assume that means it's connecting to the modem just fine if it connects to the router via cable?

The one thing I noticed is that when it connects to the router with an ethernet cable, it is calling it linksys 4 - I assume that means the 4th wired port on my linksys router. It also displays limited access to the wireless home network "Lynn."

Zep - I hadn't done that until your last post - just to be thorough.

Thanks.
Lynn.

Ok so we know it will connect and there is no problem with browser or computer.

"linksys 4' I dont know seems that is the name of the network forget that for now...

Try to connect wireless now, if you have trouble right click the 2 little computers by the clock and do a repair what ever it says. Vista should attempt to repair connection if it can't it will give you the reason. Let me know exactly what it says.

Try to go to WWW.google.com first.

Aslo please tell me if this is 64 Bit Vista Version????

Please see this link and if it pertains to you.

Here is a link that might be useful: support.microsoft.

Zep - I'm going to try the wireless again. Every other time I tried I did click the little 2-computer icon.

This is a 32-bit Vista.

The link sounds like it could be our problem - but it says:
"In this scenario, you can see that a wireless network is available in the Connect to a network dialog box in the Network and Sharing Center. However, you cannot connect to the wireless network."
the message we get is that we are connected, but access is limited (in fact, I can't connect to the internet). I'll try now and go to www.google.com first and report back.

Thanks.
Lynn.

if you are plugged in with the Ethernet cable directly then why would it say anything at all about the wireless network? you are not even using the wireless network that way.

the reason to use an Ethernet cable is to make sure it is getting the same settings through the modem and router as all the other computers, if say for example it was having a problem wirelessly getting the new IP info or the renewed lease info etc, hard wiring it puts it in direct contact rather than allowing the wireless to do it.

I am thinking it may be a problem with his wireless card or a setting in the network set up that is not set right for his laptop.

I had a friend here for Christmas his laptop connected fine to my wireless network and worked great then suddenly he was getting a bad connection and it dropping connection and all of mine were up and running fine, he carries an extra wireless card so he swapped out his card and bam he connected fine no more of those problems at all.
This is why I would love to know of another laptop with the same operating system as his can connect.
those cards are not terribly expensive if you wanted to try that.

Just to make sure I would go back through each of the computers and make sure all have the same info in all of them for your network, like workgroup name, your passkey, settings for IP etc.

You said it says connected to the wireless network but with limited access can he get online at all? in his connection icon in the systray what is that showing? is it showing he is connected to your named wireless network? does it give how many bars? and have you tried turning off his wireless access totally using the little button on the laptop letting it sit a while then turning it back on

I unhooked the ethernet cable and tried a wireless connection again. There is a yellow triangle (!) from owner-PC - unidentified network and a red X from unidentified network to internet.

When I click diagnose and repair, the two options are
- plug a cable intot he network adapter "local area connection" click here when you are done. (I think that is what I just did in plugging in the ethernet cable - so it didn't resolve my problem).

Then his computer says Windows tried a repair but a problem still exists. There might be a problem with one or more network adapters on this computer (FWIW - he can connect to unsecured wireless networks).

Second suggestion is moving the computer. Which I did. I am now 4 feet from the router. It says connected with limited access. if i mouse over is says security type wpa2-psk.Radio type 802.11g. I was able to get his computer to show the network name as Lynn.
so it shows Lynn - connected with limited access. Here's a confusing thing. It is claiming this is an unidentified network (public network). Even though is shows the connection to "Lynn" network. When I do a wired connection, it shows the network as private. This is a private network - but I don't seem to be able to change this. Is this causing the problem?

thanks.
Lynn.

Think I would make sure the ssid he is connected to is Your wifi router.

I might go to the windows start button... settings .. Network / \ and right click and disable the wired network connection, and any other connections there too excpt the one you are trying to use.

I might start new,, and go into Device Manager, view, show hidden devices.
Then delete all the wifi network connections and after a reboot let vista find new hardware and reinstall the wireless adapter/driver - and configure it fresh.

Hi, Mikie. Just to be clear - bc. what I see is worded a little differently from what you wrote. From the start menu, I don't see "settings". I do see Network. If I right click it, I can "disconnect network drives" - but nothing there says "disable the wired network connection." I am also unclear bc. you said disable all connections but the one I'm trying to use - then later you say delete all wifi network connections. Was that a second and different thought than the middle paragraph?

When I "go into Device Manager, view, show hidden devices", I don't wee where wifi network connections are listed. I have a list of network adapters, and many other things - but no list of wifi network connections. Is there somewhere else I can find those and delete them?

And might as well clarify - "after a reboot let vista find new hardware and reinstall the wireless adapter/driver - and configure it fresh" - will Vista do this automatically as I click the double-computer icon in the task tray - and have it search for wireless connections? Or do I need to know more to do that?

I'm also concerned that I have altered setting on the "Network and sharing Center". I don't know what those should be at this point (as per my post 2 earlier). Perhaps that doesn't matter?

If I go to Network and sharing Center, I see an option to click "manage wireless networks", view computers and devises, manage network connections, etc. Are one of those where I go to delete the wifi connections? And why am I disabling the wired connection?

Thanks.
Lynn.

addressing Raven's points from this thread and my other (about buying him a new laptop - an idea I'll drop for now and work on fixing this):

- originally the only things I changed in the router were enabling encryption - wpa2-personal, and creating a passphrase (changing the router's password). I left the network name as linksys. All xp laptops and other devices connected easily. My husband's didn't. it says it's connected to the wireless network - 4 or 5 bars signal strength - but limited access (cannot connect to the internet at all - hadn't tried www.google.com though).
- based on an earlier post here, I thought it kept trying to reuse the old settings for the linksys network - so I renamed the network - new ssid being "Lynn." made changes to all xp pc's and other devices easily. This was Wed. night, I think. Then tried to connect my husband's pc to the Lynn network - used wpa2-personal security and new passphrase. He connected. Strong signal - easy access to the internet. I thought the problem was solved by renaming the network. Then on Thursday, he couldn't get on again. His computer sees the Lynn network - says it's connected - strong signal - limited access.

I'm really curious why the name change worked once - but not the next day (he shut the computer down over night). This has to be a big clue.

So now what? Anyone?
Thanks.
Lynn.

Vista connects with limited access

Google the entire sentence above.

from that search looks like there is an MS hot fix for this, has he done all of his windows updates including the service pack? if not he needs to it seems that fixes it.
Message when a device on a Windows Vista-based computer uses a network bridge to access the network: "Connected with limited access"
this is what someone on another forum said
call microsoft at 1-800-936-4900 and ask for hotfix 930517, it fixed their same problem.

however I have seen several on multiple forums saying that they went and did an update on their router firmware and that fixed it, also some are saying they can not do WPA2 only WPA, so you might want to try that. How old is your router and have you ever done an update on the firmware?

then I saw someone mention that if you have a passkey for your wPA security set in your router that you can NOT have letters in it only numbers try going back and changing the key to only numbers, you will of course have to redo your password when you log in with all of your wirelessly connected devices to the new passkey. this seems to be specific to this problem.

Set all your computers to find an address by DCHP and have another go.

Zep - I've been googling versions of that - Vista connects with limited access. Your particular wording yielded some additional results. And this hotfix may help - but the only option I could see to request was for the 64 bit system. I'm 32-bit - which I believe is the 84 version. I couldn't find that.

I als think I need to get sp1 and then sp2 first. At first we were avoiding sp1 based on warnings here long ago. But now I'd like to get sp1 - then sp2. When i went to windows update, my husband hadn't updated in 10 months - sot here wre like 80-100 updates. I updated them all but I don't think any were sp1 or sp2. How would I get those? i think after I get those, I can ask for the hotfix.

Raven - also interesting about the passkey being numbers. Mine was letters. I'll try doing it with numbers.

This particular thread found through googling was astonishing:

http://www.watchingthenet.com/windows-vista-tip-how-to-setup-and-connect-to-a-wireless-network.html#comments

Just gobs and gobs of problems - few solutions, which only worked for a handful. And I tried most of them if not all. This is why we have disliked Vista. So many issues that its consumed hours and hours (probably well over 10 this week) - trying various solutions - so far to no avail. I'll keep trying for now. If somebody could point me to getting sp1 - and then sp2, that would be great. I went to windows update and those didnt' seem to appear as available updates.

I do have dchp enabled.

Several people in the above linked forum complain that vista sees the secure network, but never asks for the passkey. I had that a bunch to - although sometimes I could maneuver to a screen that let me enter it. Still didn't help.

Thanks./
Lynn.

Note Before you can install Windows Vista SP2, you must install Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1). If you have not installed Windows Vista SP1, Automatic Updates will not install Windows Vista SP2.

See link for full dissription

Here is a link that might be useful: Service pack instruction

you definitely want to do your service pack updates for Vista it makes it much better OS so do as zep said and do SP1 then of course reboot and do SP2 as always do restore points before doing any service pack updates. I usually suggest for service packs to download them to the pc then disconnect from internet and turn off all antivirus and firewalls before doing the install you have less chance of problems that way.

I'm going to go ahead and update service packs first. Then try hotfix.

By the time somebody sees this it may be too late, but I'm not sure how to set system restore points. maybe I'll have figured that out.

Thanks.
Lynn.

Manually Creating Restore Points

Here is a link that might be useful: Manually Creating Restore Points

I was able to establish a restore point. Restarted the computer.

I wasn't able to get a clickable link to download Vista SP1. I got to the page that lists the service packs - and found the appropriate one (I think - 84 version - there was cd and exe option - I was thinking exe) - but the download link was pale and unclickable. I could click on details and got more info. It seemed to want me to install something else that verified (verisign) that I could make changes. Sorry I'm very fuzzy about this. I did what it asked - rebooted. Then I ran out of time and don't know if now the download sp1 link will be clickable or not.

If not, any ideas why I didn't have the option to click it?

Thanks.
Lynn.

PS - while I was doing above, I got a pop-up screen that I'm hoping was from an earlier effort to have the connection problem diagnosed. It suggested Intel had a driver update (or some kind of update) for the wireless care. I downloaded it - saved it - but don't know where to find it - or if I should open and run it. I clicked for windows to diagnose the problem so many times - and it never came up with this Intel wireless card option before. Before I had done into some screen to have the drives checked for updates and was told it had the latest driver. but maybe this isn't a driver? maybe it's some firmware? I was connected to the internet via ethernet cable - so I hope I didn't install something bogus.

I won't be home until tonight to try more.

Make sure your using Internet Explorer browser. All I can think of

Good point, Zep. You're jogging my memory. I was on Firefox at first. Then when I went to IE and searched windows updates, it just listed 3 updates - I couldn't find service packs from there. I need to open up my email from IE (which I couldn't do in the little time I had remaining before leaving for work) - and click the links I found.
Or go to this forum on IE and click above links. Just going to windows updates didn't get me there.

I'll try to IE tonight and see if I can find service packs and try to download.

Thanks.
Lynn.

PS - any ideas about this Intel wireless card update? Do I need to find where I downloaded and saved it - and then run it? I think I clicked to Install it - but never got a screen that suggested it was installed - and I don't know where to check. (I know how to navigate my xp computer and firefox so much more - everything in Vista and IE is unfamiliar.)

Service pack here and instruction.

One thing at a time get the service packs first. Turn the windows update on too if it's not

Here is a link that might be useful: support.microsoft

Wow. I am pleasantly in shock. Updated service pack 1 (had a scare when it said there was a power drive failure (something like that - but it said if this was the only time I saw that screen, just restart). So I did - and sp1 was safely installed. Then installed sp2 - successful.

Then I saw that there were more updates available - so I chose to get those - it was 3 updates for IE8 for Windows Vista. That was 7 hours ago - and it has been stuck on 'Installing update 2 or 3" ever since. I think I should stop the installation. Any ideas what's happening - or what I should do? Should I uninstall whatever got installed - and re-download and install? Or do I want to avoid IE8?

The good news is that I can now wireless connect to the internet - on my home network. Not sure if the service packs did that - or the intel wireless update. But for now it's working. I had not installed the hotfix - and it appears I may not need to. I won't trust it completely until I see it works over time - since I got it to work last Wednesday night - and then it stopped.

I am still not sure I have the right settings on the network and sharing center - although it's working now.

I could still use an answer about what settings on the sharing and discovery settings.

I have network discofery, file sharing and password protected sharing selected. The ones which are off are public folder sharing, printer sharing (I'll have to check later if he can print) and media sharing. Should those be off?

And lastly, it now correctly identifies the network as private.

Yippee. And thanks everyone.
Lynn.

This long thread may be the perfect illustration of why one needs to make sure that the automatic updates feature is turned on, and that essential updates, like service packs, get installed promptly...

Lynn if IE 8 is already on that pc you will want to get the updates for it they are security related if IE8 is not on it and you do not want to go with IE8 yet it can be blocked, if it is offering you updates for IE8 my guess is the pc does have IE8 on it. If the update hangs for a long time I would shut down and try again later, they are supposed to be able to start over where it was interrupted, for example if you had a power outage while doing an update.

I am very happy to hear you are able to connect his laptop now. Vista especially needed those service pack updates and I suspect your husband will start to like Vista now that he has those because they made a big difference in Vista use and performance. It is very much like 7 now with those updates done.

I keep my windows update set to alert me but not download or install them so that as it lets me know there are new updates I can go see what they are and if I am ready to do them.

Lynn if his windows updates had not been done in 10 months I would bet he is far behind in the rest of the updates needed on that pc and so many are extremely important right now especially the adobe reader and flash and java, I would run secunia software inspector on it and get it fully up to date. In fact you might just go ahead and install pdf-xchange viewer, set it up and get rid of adobe reader.
PDF-XCHANGE VIEWER

Thanks, Raven. I'm sure he's behind on lots of stuff. Early in 2009, I had him change his update settings to notify him of updates, but not automatically download. That was to hold off on sp1 (at a time when I think I read here that folks were having trouble with it - but I didn't follow that topic, so didn't realize sp1 had become a good idea and that sp2 followed). We also set it that way bc. his computer was automatically updating and then rebooting when he was in the middle of doing other things. So this was to allow him to time his own downloads and installations. But he just never thought of it - and I didn't think I needed to keep track for him. I do keep track of his Avast, superantispyware, malwarebyte and spywareblaster. Every now and then when he's done surfing I have him leave out the laptop and go ahead and update and scan. I'll have to keep track of more than that, obviously.

I got foxit reader on my ancient laptop in my office and love it. It takes so little room and does what I need quickly. Do you like pdf-xchange viewer more than foxit reader? Or does he need to use firefox to use foxit reader? I installed firefox for him - and set up tabs with the places he likes to go (did that in the summer) - but he hasn't used it. He's a bit resistant to tech changes. He balked when I got Tivo's - although he loves it now.

He's a musician - and I got him Protools so he could record the music he wrote. That was over 1 1/2 years ago - and he hasn't learned it yet - he's barely scratched the surface. Last spring he bought an Imac bc. it was better for recording music. And now he's finally setting up his den and equipment. I'm hoping he'll actually learn the software this year. I'll take care of the rest for him so the only learning curve he has is Protools (certainly the most challenging of them all).

But I digress. I'll check his other updates and run Secunia - I'm pretty sure I already put that on his computer last year.

Thanks.
Lynn.

Like many others here, I'm sure, I've been following this thread with much interest. So glad, Lynn, that you finally have your network up and running. I guess this demonstrates the importance of MS updates in the scheme of things. The best to you for all your hard work.

yes Lynn I changed from foxit to pdfxchange and do like it better, foxit was beginning to have many of the same security issues as adobe since it was so popular and pdfxchange was not, they did recently put out an update for a security issue but it was the only one since I have been using it and their response time to the vulnerability was very quick, it is extremely small and easy to use, but foxit is still a good option if you prefer it.

Grandms - it sure is important to do those updates. We paid the price for not doing it. I'm sure hoping that with sp2 my husband has a better experience with Vista. He doesn't do anything fancy on that computer - itunes, surfing, very lightweight excel stuff, emails. Well - he was impressed by the power of the updates - he had no idea. I didn't realize it was that critical - but I didn't know he wasn't doing his. I do my pc, my daughter's pc, my laptop and my office laptop.

Raven - I think I'll change to pdfxchange on all our computers (maybe leave the work laptop as is for now).

I have a question about IE8. My daughter and I primarily use firefox - and our computers don't have IE8 on them. There is a new security update for IE7 that I'm installing on our computers right now. Should we go to IE8 - or is that more complicated than we need - esp. if we only use it for windows updates? And for my husband - who still uses Internet Exporer - should he stick with 7 or go to 8. Raven - I think the suggested updates I tried to do for him were to get IE8 - not update IE8 already on his sytem (although I'm not certain). Which would be better for him - 7 or 8?

Thanks.
Lynn.

8 is supposed to be the most secure and is what they are suggesting of course, I have 7 on one and 8 on the other and just keep both updated for now. To know which Ie you have open IE and click on Help then About IE to see the version. I only use it for my updates also, just have not had the time to change from 7 to 8 yet, it is up to you and your husband which you use but either way be sure to get the updates because there have been some really serious holes popping up that have to get patched quickly. Especially when you know of an out of band update like the last one was you know it is critical.