I turn off the security on my router. The laptop was a gift (yay!), but it has Vista on it (boo!) - no service packs yet. Anyway the wireless card is a Realtek 8187 (going from memory here...) and the router a Netgear 2000v3.

It will connect to the router, but not to the interwebz unless I turn off the security on the router - which seems like a bad idea.

On another note, howya been Massassi? It's been far too long since my last visit. I see there have been a few upgrades. Nice!

When you say 'security on the router' are you referring a type of secure connection like WEP or WPA, or are you referring to some sort of router feature like a built in firewall.

What he said.

Yeah, I'm talking about turning off WPA.

I would look perform all the essential Vista updates, and look for firmware updates for both your router and nic. I can't imagine either are too old to support WPA.

If your still having issues consider using a weaker encryption. Honestly I'm sure WEP is as awful as they say, but I doubt anyone would waste time cracking it. Most people just look for an unsecured WAP.

If your router supports MAC address filtering, then an even worse option would be to run unsecured but restrict access to the specific MAC addresses used by your computer, laptop, ect.

Also, I wouldnt rule out replacing either the router or NIC. I've seen both Wireless N routers and usb wireless N nic's for <$15. If you can afford to wait for a deal.

Ok, I'll do the updates and driver updates and see if that corrects it.