I hope i am posting this in the right area but i did not see an area for just basic computer issues and im sorry if im not posting in the right place.

So i got my old computer hooked up in my room and i turned it on
When i turned it on the start key in the bottom left corner is not there and i dont have wifi connection i need help my parents dont know how to work computers and i need to know is there a disc or something i need to dl in order for the start to show up. Then also can someone please tell me how i set up the wife connection please. I hope this makes sense and thank you in advance if you know what i need to do

Hey winnie,

You should be able to use the keyboard shortcut to get to the start menu. Its the button the button that is left of the space bar and left of alt.It looks like the windows logo. As for why the icon for it vanished, im not sure, I didnt even know you could delete it.


What version of windows are you on? And what type of wireless card do you have? Alot of those wireless cards have their own software that they have you use to connect with.

Is this Windows 8? I think they got rid of the Start button in Windows 8. But yeah, never heard of it not "being there".

For WIFI, you need to get to Settings - go to Network Connections and look for "Wireless Connection". I'm assuming you have like, a wireless router in your house? How do you connect to the internet? Is it DSL or Cable or what? How were you connected before? If you now have two computers in your house and you don't have a router, you won't be able to allow both computers to have access to your internet connection.

A router is a piece of hardware that sits between your computer and your network modem (DSL or cable). Previously, your modem may have been directly connected to your PC, but I don't know your home configuration. Do you have a router?

EDIT:
Found this diagram to show what I'm talking about. I know you don't know a lot about computers, so I'm hoping we can help you out here however we can.



The router is in the middle of this diagram. If you have more than one computer trying to share one internet connection, you have to have a router.

Another question occurred to me --- do you even have a wireless card in your computer? If i recall, your PC was rather old, it might only have a wired connection (ethernet). In that case, you'd have to physically connect your comptuter to the router (e.g. the thick blue line in the diagram from 'Desktop Computer' to the router, instead of the zig-zag lines indicating wireless connection).

Is the task bar even showing up or just the start menu gone? Are you on windows xp,vista,7?

basically what it was is the whole bottom part is not showing up the clock the speaker you click to mute it and the start that you click to see your programs.

Beck- your pick basically looks like ours does its the same ten year old computer just now its mine upstairs.
It is a windows xp. How do i find out if my computer has a card that i use for wifi?

Hmmmm.... do you see any icons on the desktop? Like "My Computer"? Wondering if you are actually fully booted.

What if you hover the mouse near the bottom of the screen? Sometimes the taskbar is set to disappear unless you move your mouse down there.

Typically whenever your task bar is gone you have a corrupted registry, and a reinstall is best.

Beck the hovering of the mouse worked thanks. Now to figure out how to get wifi set up from the computer with everythign to my computer upstairs

You should be able to change that so that it always appears.

Hover over the bar to bring it up, the right-click it. When the popup menu appears, select "Properties" then uncheck "Auto hide the taskbar".

Now to check your network settings, try this.

Start | Settings | Network Connections

If you have configured wireless connection, it should be listed there ("Wireless Network Connection").

If you don't see that option (Start|Settings|Network...), or you don't have a per-configured connection, then try this:

Start | Settings | Control Panel | Network and Internet Connections

On my XP machine, there is an option on that screen that says "wireless network setup wizard".

Try running that.

If you have a router, it will probably detect your router by its name (SSID), and display it. Pick your network name, then assuming you have a password (if you don't, you should), enter your password and you should be connected.

im going to try that thanks beck i feel stupid asking this but i cant find it on the router do you know where they put the(SSID) on the router

SSID: That is the name of your home wifi network. Whomever set up your router gives it a name so you can distinguish it between your router and your neighbors routers. Sometimes, its just something like "DLINK123456" or some name given by the manufacturer of the router. But it will be a name that shows up when your computers WIFI card scans the air for signals --- so like if your network was called "WinniesRouter" then you'd see that in the list. "WinniesRouter" is the SSID.

In order to change or see what it is, you need to go to the router setup page, typically it is something you do in a browser by navigating to "192.168.0.1". But you cant' do that from your PC because you're not connected. You could do that from the other computer (whatever computer you're using to post here, because it is obviously internet connected), just launch IE or whatever browser you use and type "192.168.0.1" into the location bar. Try it


But for now - don't worry about SSID - just try and set up a wireless connection on your computer, and if you can't even do that, there is no need to worry about SSIDs or your router password. Once you're actually in the WIFI setup wizard, then you can worry about finding your router. Try what I said in the previous post first.

Also:
Please don't feel stupid - honestly, there are so many things about computing that I don't know much about, there is too much to know and no one is an expert at everything. We all ask questions now and then, we're happy to help, we just want to see you back in the game again.

thanks beck and im doing the wireless setup but its asking for an ssid so i have find it first

ok so i filled eveything out i hope correctly and now its telling me to get internet i need to follow the instructions of my Internet Service Provider but there are no instructions i know of

hmmmm,i don't know what that means. Anyone else have any ideas? This isn't the "Beck Show" ya know