Whenever they clicked on the Windows network icon in the system tray, the expected listing of the available wireless networks that I saw in my admin account failed to materialize. Instead, the following message would appear: "Windows cannot configure this wireless connection."
I navigated to the control panel's wireless networks connection properties, selected the Advanced tab, and checked the box marked "Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection." Still no luck.
I scoured Google for hours searching for solutions from other folks who had encountered the same problem. Some people suggested converting the limited accounts to admin accounts, but I refuse to do that for my two pre-teenage children: there's no telling what kind of mischief that would create. Others recommended uninstalling and re-installing the operating system, but that was way too radical for my taste. Other respondents recommended scrapping the current modem and purchasing a modem from a different manufacturer, another impractical solution. In short, I found no useful suggestions that I was willing to apply.
In sheer frustration, I continued to poke around my son's machine. Eventually, I stumbled on the fact that Dell had installed an Intel wireless network connection. It had not been readily apparent to me because the system tray icon was marked as "Always hide" and therefore was invisible to me. I suspect that I myself hid it when I first bought the machine in an effort to reduce the clutter in the system tray from all of the crapware that Dell installs on its machines.
While logged on under my own limited account, I unhid the Intel wireless icon and clicked on it out of sheer desperation more than anything else. Eureka! Much to my surprise and delight, the list of available wireless networks appeared as if by magic, including our own home network. I repeated the process on my son's limited account and successfully connected to the internet in the same way: by using Intel's connection rather than Microsoft's. My son has been a happy camper ever since.
As it turns out, I much prefer the Intel user interface anyway. In the main window, it lists only those networks that are currently within range. It also permits users to save wireless networks that they have previously accessed as separate profiles with meaningful names (for example, "motel@NewarkDE") for later use.
The Windows interface, on the other hand, lists all computers accessed in the past in the main window as if they were still within range even when those networks are hundreds of miles away and no longer accessible! For example, every Thanksgiving we travel to my sister's house in Pennsylvania, and Windows continues to list the wireless network connection to our public library 250 miles away in Richmond, Virginia. How silly is that?
Furthermore, the reported signal strength with Intel is much more believable than Windows. My son's wireless notebook is less than 30 feet from our modem, yet the Windows icon reports signal strength as "Low" whereas Intel reports it as a far more credible "Excellent."
Lessons Learned
There are at least two lessons illustrated by this experience. The first is to be wary of well-meaning but sometimes misguided on-line technical support "gurus." Be skeptical of extreme remedies like re-installing your operating system from scratch or buying replacement hardware. More often than not, there will be a simpler, more straight-forward solution to your problem. In my case, the answer turned out to be very close at hand. You might have to keep digging and consult with a variety different knowledgeable sources before you eventually stumble on a satisfactory method to fix the immediate problem.
The second observation from this episode involves Microsoft and the quality of its products. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, we now have yet another case in a steadily growing list of examples where Microsoft produces an application for its own operating system that is markedly inferior to products of other vendors. You would think that as the originator of the operating system, Microsoft would have a distinct advantage in creating useful applications for that O/S. In reality, quite the opposite is true: for reasons I cannot begin to fathom, Microsoft continually squanders its advantage and instead wallows in mediocrity.
As my favorite philosopher Yogi Berra once stated, "If you come to a fork in the road, take it." In this case, if you come to a fork in the road with at least one branch leading away from Microsoft, by all means take it. Chances are favorable that you be happier with the non-Microsoft option.
One final note on the history and origins of wireless technology:
After digging to a depth of 100 meters last year, Japanese scientists found traces of copper wire dating back 1000 years and came to the conclusion that their ancestors already had a telephone network one thousand years ago.
Not to be outdone in the weeks that followed, Chinese scientists dug 200 meters and headlines in the Chinese papers read: "Chinese scientists have found traces of 2000 year old optical fibers and have concluded that their ancestors already had advanced high-tech digital telephone 1000 years earlier than the Japanese."
One week later, the Greek newspapers reported the following: "After digging as deep as 800 meters, Greek scientists have found absolutely nothing." They have concluded that 3000 years ago, their ancestors were already using wireless technology.
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