Summary: It's possible to accidentally connect to wireless networks you didn't expect. We'll look at how to make sure you get the connection you expect.
In my neighborhood there are several wireless networks. All of these are unsecured. As the signal of one of these is stronger than that of my own router, my laptop sometimes attempts to connect to this other network. I am running Vista and have repeatedly deleted all the neighboring networks from the list in the network center. Nevertheless, it reappears the next time I start up the laptop. Are there other ways to remove this competing network than just deleting it from the list?
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Deleting it might well be exactly the wrong thing to do.
I believe what you really want to do is leave it in the list, but tell Vista not to use it.
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The list of wireless networks we want is in Control Panel, Network and Sharing Center, in the task Manage Wireless Networks:
In this example from my laptop, you can see that I have several wireless networks listed.
There are two things to note for this discussion: the order of this list and the last column which lists manual and automatic connection type (if you don't see this column you may need to widen the window).
When looking for a wireless network to connect to, Windows starts at the top of this list and tries to connect to each network marked "automatic" until it finds one that it can connect to.
To prevent accidental connections we need to do two things:
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change the order of the list so that your network appears first
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change the "other" network to a manual connection type
Changing the order is simple: just click and hold on the network name in the list and drag it into the position you want it to have and release.
To change from automatic to manual, right click on the network's icon:
As you can see, you can remove the network, and also use this menu to move the network up and down in the list, but we'll click on properties:
The key is to make sure that "Connect automatically when this network is in range" is not checked. You can still connect to these networks if you want to, but you'll need to do so manually. That's done by right clicking on Windows Vista's networking icon in the task bar and selecting "Connect to a Network".
As an aside, I've not found a way to make absolutely sure that newly discovered open networks aren't set to "connect automatic" by default. You'll need to keep an eye out for this, and, if that happens, make sure to set that network to manual.
This example shows the wireless connection used by a local coffee house, and as you can see, I've got it set to connect manually. Sometimes I simply don't want to connect when I'm there, for security or other reasons, and at a minimum, I want to be in control. At home, the top connection on my list, connections can happen automatically.
And as for the various hotel connections you see on my list, there's no reason for me to keep them, so I deleted them shortly after writing this article.
As a final aside to the extremely watchful: yes, my home network is
unsecured (no password or encryption). This is intentional and a mater
of convenience. I live in a remote enough area that the WiFi signal
doesn't travel far enough for others to see - or they'd have to be
sitting in my driveway where I'd notice. 
If you're not positive that others aren't in range, then
absolutely, you should be using WPA encryption on your wireless network.
Since you can see the wireless networks of others, they can just as
easily see yours; make sure you encrypt.
Related:
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How can I block neighboring wireless networks? Accidentally connecting to someone's nearby wireless network can be a serious security risk. We'll look at some steps to prevent it.
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How do I stay safe in an internet cafe? When connecting to the internet in an internet cafe, hotspot or other public connection you could be opening yourself up to serious security issues.
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Wireless Encryption: do I need it? Wireless Encryption is somewhat mysterious. Wireless encryption is something you likely need to keep your network, and your data, secure.
Article C3449 - July 19, 2008
I have done everything that you say to.. But I seem to be getting more and more networks, with the same name as mine. I can't get rid of any of them. I want to delete all the networks, not just remove them from my list. It is really frustruating and to top it off, my extender has now stopped working.. eh.. but that is the second problem.. how can I delete the networks and start fresh..???? PLease help.
Posted by: Em at February 2, 2009 1:53 AMhi
it is good to know how to remove a wireless connection. Thanks for the info it is a great way to learn and exchange ideas and I appreciate your effort to disseminte eimportant information.
I am using wireless connection and well I forgot the security key or password. I know there is a way to retrieve the key password and I did once but I forgot how. Also what I did was create another wireless account without knowing and have reset the router so I can create a new key password which I seem to have forgotten.
Please let me know if it si safe to merge the two wireless names and how can I find the lost security key password.
Also let me know whether I should create a new wirless name if there are two computers using the wireless network symoultaneously.
Your reply and help are much appreciated and thank you in advance.
Jim from lebanon
Posted by: jim at October 11, 2009 2:57 AMvista keeps trying to connect to the old virgin network in my old house. It means if I connect to another network it disconnects and tries to automatically connect to the old network again. I have turned off the connect automatically feature. I have even removed the old network from the list, but it reappears 10 seconds later. What the hell is going on? I don't get these problems on my mac....
Posted by: luke at November 4, 2009 2:13 AMIv just had exactly the same problem and after trawling websites which were less than helpful, installing new drivers and god knows what else, i think iv cracked it. (holds breath)
Posted by: Alex at December 18, 2009 8:01 AMMy issue was the internet not connecting at home having been fine for the past 12mnths, the only change over the past few months was going away to uni and connecting to virgin there...i had set up the network at uni so my laptop had the virgin wireless manager installed on it, this seems to have overridden the windows wireless manager and would not let me get rid of my new default virgin connection on the windows wireless and repeatedly tried connecting to my virgin network.
My solution, uninstall/delete all virgin wireless stuff off my laptop, delete the uni network and add on my home network. it has been working successfully ever since and i am hoping when i get back to uni i can just connect via the windows wireless manager.
Hope this helps someone, after 5days this seems now like a studpidly simple solution.
HI
Posted by: shannon spears at January 7, 2010 2:39 PMMy duaghter got a new laptop for x mas, we have wireless at home and all was well and connecting for about 1 week. She left to visit a friend and used their wireless net work. When she came home now it says "local only" and will not connect wirelssly. Only way she can get online is with ethernet cord, what should I do? No matter what I try to do to repair the connection it always say : "local only".