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Zero service config! - how Windows can frame your wireless AP when it's innocent.

Here's one I haven't seen before: I'm sitting typing on my notebook, connected to my home WLAN when suddenly, the Internet vanishes. And yet the other PCs in the house are still connected!

Of course, I didn't know the wireless AP was still working. In these circumstances, you obviously suspect it's broken, so you restart it. When that doesn't work, you suspect your Wireless card. You unplug it. You reboot... eventually, you check the console and the diagnostics and find that it is "Aquiring network address."

Five minutes later, you realise it's not actually doing that, so you check on what wireless networks are available.

"Windows cannot configure this connection" says the diagnostic. "If you want to use Windows to manage this connection..."

..and of course, at that point you're normally stuffed. Because, after all, if you haven't got an Internet connection, you can't go online to find out how to restart Wireless Zero Configuration using the Component Services application.

And of course, Windows "help" doesn't tell you what the application is called, or how to use that. Those instructions are online. Clever, eh? If you could get online, you could get the help; but you wouldn't need it! And if you need it, you can't get online.

I don't know whether to blame Microsoft zero config, or Linksys wireless manager. Neither of them has endeared itself to me...