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My company recently disabled the wireless networking/connection capability on my PC. How do I re-enable the ability to connect to a wireless network? I don't have admin rights!
-Thanks
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Companies usually have a good reason for doing such things on equipment they own or that which will be used for company work. Is it worth risking your job?
Anyway, it's possible they removed the wireless network adapter from the computer.
I am one of the few remote employees with a home office, so they don't think of "us" when they do things like this. Anyhow, the way my home office is setup I don't have a line connection (it is in a different room that I can't work in). Is there a way to reinstall the wireless adapter without admin rights?
Sounds like you need to contact your computer people at work to get the Administrator user account password.
My Windows XP "Limited" user accounts require the Administrator password to enable disabled devices (including network adapters). If I want to install another network adapter, the Limited user account requires the Administrator password to install the driver.
...they may indeed be thinking of ''remote employees'' like you. They have no idea what wireless networks you will connect to: home network, your neighbor's network, public hotspot, hotspot evil twin, etc. They have no idea how secure these potential wireless connections are.
Nevertheless, I do think it would be a courtesy to you for your employer to explain in advance why the wireless network adapter is disabled and what they expect of their remote employees in terms of safer computing habits. This could be a day-long seminar...hmmm, sacrifice a day of productivity?
Maybe the IT people at work can come up with a WIFI agreement for employees in your situation to read, understand, and sign. Maybe something that says you would only connect to your home wireless network, use WEP 128-bit encryption, MAC filtering, disabled SSID broadcast, strong router password, a WEP password rotation scheme, etc. Many IT folk just say fuggetaboutit and dump wireless.
On the other hand, maybe your computer work is not that sensitive and they are being overly cautious. Only you would know this.
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