Hello. I am on Windows XP, connected wirelessly to the Internet via a Linksys wcg200 router. Everything has always worked wonderfully until recently, when my cousin started messing around in the Windows networking settings. He was supposedly making my connection more secure (though I'm not sure that he actually did). For a day, I couldn't even get online. Now I have created a new wireless network, and can at least get online. But my speeds are 1013 Kbs for download and -1307 Kbs for uploads. SLOW. The signal strength is "very good." I am now 95% positive that this has to do with some setting that he changed. Also, not sure if this matters, but in ipconfig, my ethernet adapter is in a media disconnected state. Please help!

Where is your cousin now? Did you ask him what he did? Do you think he even knows what he did? If it says media disconnected, check the drivers in the device manager first. Edit: I just thought of something else. What about a restore point?

My cousin says he "did so much, it'd be hard to pinpoint it." I think he thinks he knows much more about computers than he actually does. I've definitely learned my lesson about letting him touch my computer.... Anyway, I have tried system restore several times, from several different restore points, but (as is typical with my computer), it is unable to restore. I did check all the network adapters in the device manager, and all seemed to be OK. Is there any other device I should check?

Run iponfig /all and post the output. Maybe I can see something.

Windows IP Configuration Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : Laptop Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . : Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Hybrid IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No DNS Suffix Search List. . . . . . : hsd1.sc.comcast.net. Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection: Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Broadcom 440x 10/100 Integrated Cont roller Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-11-43-7A-C9-43 Ethernet adapter Wireless Network Connection: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : hsd1.sc.comcast.net. Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Dell Wireless 1370 WLAN Mini-PCI Car d Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : 00-90-4B-D7-CC-14 Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : Yes Autoconfiguration Enabled . . . . : Yes IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.10 Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0 IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : ? Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1 DHCP Server . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.0.1 DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 68.87.68.162 68.87.74.162 68.87.64.196 ? ? ? Lease Obtained. . . . . . . . . . : Friday, April 03, 2009 10:24:06 AM Lease Expires . . . . . . . . . . : Friday, April 03, 2009 11:24:06 AM Tunnel adapter Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface: Connection-specific DNS Suffix . : Description . . . . . . . . . . . : Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF-FF Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : ? Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : NetBIOS over Tcpip. . . . . . . . : Disabled

The media disconnect refers to the wired connection (cat5). It shouldn't be connected when you are using wireless. You're wireless adapter information looks good. Download TCPOptimizer.exe from www.speedguide.net Run it & make the recommended changes.

The media disconnect refers to the wired connection (cat5). It shouldn't be connected when you are using wireless. Agreed. In fact, I would disable the wired NIC while connecting wirelessly.