Again apologies to all. I'm having some difficulty getting my head around some of these options - e.g. removing the WEP protection, 'cos I can't access the £$%"*** router to modify anything at all. The router itself is working fine on the other two machines so I'm assuming that the fault(s) lie with the lappie. It has worked in the past but I have no idea when , or which operation, caused the problem. I've done the My Docs transfer and there's nothing else on the machine of consequence so the rehash is looking increasingly favourite - it's more in line with my (lackof) skill base!!