Laptop lost contact with wi-fi

[towny44]

Before I buy a new laptop do any of you computer savvy folk have any suggestions I could try.
Trouble shooting recommends that I use the wi fi switch on the front, however that is on and always has been, but the wi fi on settings does say it is off, and it does not respond to turning it on.
Any ideas?

[david63]

I suppose you have tried restarting your router

[towny44]

I suppose you have tried restarting your router

The router is working perfectly, on Sky downloads and my phone and tablet and the printer, plus I dont want to switch it off as I then have to go through the rigmorole of re-twinning both my Sky boxes.

[allatc]

which operating system are you running?

[Stephen]

You could try giving Sky a call and see what they suggest.

[towny44]

I am running windows 10, and despite Sky's great customer service, I doubt they will know what has gone wrong with my geriatric Sony laptop, which is not picking up signs of any wi fi signals, which in a block of flats you would think were everywhere.

[david63]

Have you applied all the current updates to Win10?

[Manoverboard]

Have you tried resetting up your Wi-Fi connection to the Laptop ?

[oldbluefox]

Have you tried resetting up your Wi-Fi connection to the Laptop ?

I have had the same problem and found deleting my wi-fi connection and setting it up again worked.

[Stephen]

Chuck it out and treat yourself to a new one John, you know you want to.

[Kendhni]

General fault finding would be (I am assuming that wifi icon on taskbar is showing as connected rather than the globe symbol)
1. reboot laptop (from cold start)
2. try 'troubleshoot problems' option (right click on wifi icon on taskbar)
3. disconnect/forget wifi on laptop and try reconnecting
4. reset router
5. try upgrading drivers
If you particularly like laptop then try an external wifi dongle (about £5-10 from Amazon or ebay)

[Quizzical Bob]

Or tether through your mobile phone.

[towny44]

Lo and behold after a couple of days rest, when I turned it on again this morning I got a new pop up advising that the wi fi switch was turned of, which it wasn't but I gave it a good switchng on and off, then received another new pop up which took me to a different set up screen which when I requested that wi fi be turned on, it was!!!!
However I think Stephen has the right idea, so I am trying to secure a pirate ms office disc to enable me to load it onto a new machine so I can stil use my spreadsheets.

[Kendhni]

You don't need to use stolen software. Download yourself a copy of LibreOffice and it will do pretty uch anything MS Office will do.

[towny44]

You don't need to use stolen software. Download yourself a copy of LibreOffice and it will do pretty uch anything MS Office will do.

But will it do it with existing spreadsheets?

[Kendhni]

If you use a lot of complex macros you may have issues but for general spreadsheet work it is fine.
Give it a go, it is a free download.

Alternatively if you really want MS Office then you don't need to steal it. You can get it for as little as £60 per year including 1Tb of cloud storage to auto backup everything.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/microso ... products-b

[oldbluefox]

Have a look on eBay for genuine Office disks. Likely to be old software but will probably do the job you want without the need to pay annual fees.

[david63]

If you want genuine MS Office then you can get a free download and there are several sites that will sell you a genuine key for around £30 - I have used them several times, but steer clear of the sites that offer a "free" ey as they are more trouble than they are worth and I have never found one that actually works.

[oldbluefox]

I bought Microsoft Office 2016 Professional Plus, disk came complete with serial number for £12.99 18 months ago. It loaded fine and worked without problems.

[Stephen]

As per Foxy's post. Take your pick

https://www.google.com/search?q=+Micros ... 9361254737

[david63]

The problem is that most (if not all) new laptops do not have a disc drive

[Kendhni]

Be aware that the majority of those are not actually 'genuine' and are pirated. Many of the keys come from organizations that bulk buy computers with MS Office licenses but they use their corporate license instead. They are not meant to pass on those keys since they are meant to be tied to the original computer (if they decide to sell the computers as second hand later they may grab the key back). However I have seen keys for most software up for sale (very easy to find from about £5). Microsoft has been known to (occasionally) shut down such keys with no warning - but it is easy just to get another one.

It is funny when working with some oversea contractors that when they show their screen on zoom their windows backgrounds are plastered with a 'Not genuine copy' watermark.

[Kendhni]

The problem is that most (if not all) new laptops do not have a disc drive

But virtually all MS software is available for download these days from the MS site.

[Quizzical Bob]

@Kendhni

Yes, one should be careful when buying such keys. It's best to look at the seller's reviews before plunging in.

[towny44]

OK, I now have s copy on a memory stick, so the next question is what laptop should I buy.
I only want it for e mails, social media, surfing the net, spreadsheets, Word letter writing, storing photos and documents etc. So any recommendations about a suitable windows laptop, which processor, how much RAM, how big a storage, any makes to avoid, any preferred makes?