Why won't my wifi work

[Laptoplover18]

Hi, so this afternoon I opened up my laptop only to find out I can't connect to the Internet. My laptop isn't even registering the router and only knows networks that I've never seen before, I'm assuming they're my neighbours. Now when i try to fix the problem it says to put in an Ethernet cable, the only problem is i want wifi not a limited time connection which is what i would get if i were to plug it in. Does anyone know what I'm supposed to do? I'm not very good with computers so if there's a simple solution that would be great.

[mostlylurking · Accepted solution]

For the last few months I have had intermittant trouble connecting to the internet with my HP laptop. It disconnects a lot even though other devices in my household are connected. Yesterday there was a prolonged update to Windows 10. When I went to connect this morning, the internet icon was gone and there was no way I could connect with the HP (my chromebook works, as does my streaming TV service). I tried for about 4 hours, even restarting the computer several times.  I finally restored the computer to a time before the update and, VOILA, the internet works!

[mostlylurking]

I am following up on my previous post about why my wifi won't work. I tried all the recommended solutions in this column but nothing was permanent or just plain did not work. I even restored my computer to the original factory specs (big mistake). After much frustration, I realized that something in my computer was broken so I took the suggestion to order a tiny, plug-in USB Wifi Adapter from Amazon ($9.00). I received it yesterday, installed it and the wifi has worked ever since. Good luck to all who are having this same issue.