Wireless networks are, of course, a very convenient thing. We all often have to use them in various public places - cafes, hotels, etc. As a rule, once connected to a public network, our devices remember it and will connect to it automatically in the future. However, this may not always be necessary for us.

Just today I’ll talk about how to forget the Wi-Fi network on your smartphone or tablet. Forever 🙂

In fact, Android makes this (and more) very easy. How? Take your smart phone and repeat after me :)

Go to the “Settings” - “Wi-Fi” menu. Well, now we are very close to the goal :)

Here we see a list of WiFi networks that we have ever connected to. Sometimes this list is very impressive. How much history it stores - where we have been, what we have not connected to 🙂 Emotions aside!

Select the Wi-Fi network that you want to delete/forget and click on it. In the menu that opens we see the “Forget network” option. This is exactly what we need! We click on it, and that’s it, the network is forgotten. Everything is very simple, as promised.

I hope I answered the question today - “How to delete a WiFi network?”

Why know how to remove a WiFi network in Windows 7? Typically, this operation must be performed if the connection configuration is changed. For example, you set a new password or chose a different encryption method. The system remembers the old configuration, so when you try to connect to the Internet an error will pop up. The simplest solution is to forget or delete the connection, then find it again and calmly connect.

Standard removal

In Windows 7, everything is quite simple: you can remove unnecessary connections in a special section of the Control Panel.

The network profile has been deleted. Now you can start a new search and, when the desired access point is found, connect with the changed parameters.

In Windows 8.1, the Wi-Fi removal procedure has undergone minor changes. The “Delete” function in the “Changing adapter settings” section for a wireless network is not available, and you won’t find a list of access points here.

You may encounter a similar situation if you need to delete an unidentified network in Windows 7, but in this case everything is much simpler:

The connection you selected will be removed from all available lists.

Using the Command Line

You can also get rid of unnecessary Wi-Fi networks that were once detected by your computer, but are no longer used, using special commands.

If you want to completely clear the list of detected access points, use the command “netsh wlan delete profile *”. All saved Wi-Fi profiles will be erased from your computer's memory.

Deleting files

If you like unusual ways to control your computer, which are little known and rarely used, then you can try removing wi fi in Windows 7 directly from the folder where the profiles are stored.

All Wi-Fi profiles are stored in the %ProgramData%\Microsoft\Wlansvc\Profiles\Interfaces directory as *.xml files.

You can open such a file using standard notepad. Identification is made using the “name” line, where you can find the name of the access point.

Delete the file - the profile of the same name will disappear from the list of Wi-Fi networks. True, the process of finding the required file may take a little longer, so it is better to use the methods described above and delete Wi-Fi networks using the command line or the forget function.

And every home now has Wi-Fi. Using wireless Internet, you can always access the network from almost anywhere. This is very convenient, because you can work, watch movies, download useful information and be always in touch using various devices. But there are situations when third-party devices connect to the Internet for which you pay. As a result, the quality of communication deteriorates. And you are thinking about how to find out who is using your Wi-Fi and how to disconnect a third-party user.

None of the users wants to share their network with other clients

How can you tell if someone is using your network? You should be wary if at least one of these signs is present:

1. The indicator blinks constantly. This means that information is being transferred. It's worth paying attention if the indicator flickers while all your devices are turned off.
2. Data exchange speed has decreased. There are several reasons for the decrease in speed. One of them is connecting a third-party device.

Ways to determine who is connected to your Internet

There are two most convenient ways to identify an unwanted user.

In the router settings. Disconnect all your devices from the wireless Internet except your computer. Find out the IP address and MAC address of your computer. This can be done through the command line using the ipconfig command. will be indicated next to the “Main gateway” item. It is often written on the device sticker, and the default login and password are also indicated there. Next, go to the router settings, enter the device address in the browser address bar, then enter your data. You will see the MAC addresses and IP addresses of all connected devices if you go to the “Clients” and “Statistics” sections.

How to view router clients:

1. TP-Link. On the left menu, select the “Wireless Mode Statistics” section. Here you can see a list of connected devices. Through MAC Address Filtering, you can disable an unwanted user.

1. Asus. The “Customers” circle is displayed on the main page. Click on it. A table will be displayed on the right where all clients will be listed.

1. D-Link. Go to “Advanced settings”, then select “Station list” in the Wi-Fi item. There you can also disconnect the connection to a third-party MAC address by clicking “Disconnect”.

1. Zyxel. Select the “System Monitor” section, go to the “Home Network” tab, and below you can see a list of devices.

Using the program. In order to determine who is connected to your Wi-Fi, there is a very convenient utility called Wireless Network Watcher. You can download it from the official website. Run the program directly from the computer via cable. The utility scans the network, identifying connected devices. Based on the results of the scan, their data and the name of the manufacturer will be displayed. After identifying dishonest users, they can be disabled through the router settings.

How to block someone else's MAC address

If you see foreign devices, you can block them through MAC address filtering. Allowing only some addresses to connect is a safer option, while others need to be blocked.

The password must be quite complex. The longer it is, the more difficult it is to pick it up. Use a combination of large and small letters, numbers, and symbols. Then the password will ensure sufficient security for your Wi-Fi router, and you will be able to use the Internet to its fullest.

By default, Windows 10 saves a list of WiFi networks that you connect to. This saves passwords and other settings. In some situations, it may be necessary to delete saved WiFi passwords.

I will not give examples of why you need to remove the WiFi password. I will just say one thing, with all the vulnerabilities that have appeared recently, reliable protection of the local network is very important. And a WiFi password in the hands of an attacker is a magic wand for hacking all devices connected to the local network. You can read more about local network protection in the article "".

So, we need to make Windows forget the Wi-Fi network. In Windows 7, everything was pretty easy; you could simply select "Manage Wireless Networks" in the Network and Sharing Center in Control Panel and delete the saved networks. In Windows 8, this feature was removed forcing users to use the command line. But already in Windows 10, Microsoft has decided to bring back an easy way to delete saved WiFi passwords. Let's start with him.

How to quickly remove WiFi password in Windows 10

Microsoft has finally made this process easier with the Fall Creators Update for Windows 10. Now you don't have to dig into Settings and Control Panel.

1. Open the WiFi pop-up window from the notification area, also known as the system tray.
2. Right-click on the WiFi network whose password you want to remove and select Forget.

This method only works if you are near a WiFi network and it appears in the list. If you want to remove a WiFi network that your device can't currently see, you'll need to go into the settings.

How to remove WiFi password in Windows settings

To forget a saved Wi-Fi network nearby, you need to go to the new version of Settings. The Manage Wireless Networks feature is no longer available in the Network and Sharing Center.

1. To get started, go to Settings > Network & Internet.
2. Select the "WiFi" category and click the "Manage known networks" link.
3. You'll see a list of every Wi-Fi network you've connected to. To remove a WiFi password, click on the desired network and click the “Forget” button. You can use the search, sort, and filter options to find a network in this list.

The next time you connect to the network, you'll be asked to enter a passphrase, and Windows will set it up from scratch.

How to remove WiFi password from command line

You can also remove the WiFi password from the command line. In Windows 8 and 8.1, this was the only built-in way to forget WiFi networks, since Microsoft did not provide graphical tools for this purpose.

1. Launch a command prompt window as administrator. To do this, open the Start menu, find Command Prompt, right-click on the Command Prompt shortcut and select Run as administrator.

2. To display a list of saved WiFi networks, enter the following command and press Enter:

netsh wlan show profiles

3. Find the profile name of the network you want to forget. Enter the following command, replacing "profile name" with the name of the network you want to forget:

netsh wlan delete profile name="PROFILE NAME"

Let's say you want to delete a network named "SpySoft". In this case, you must enter the following command:

netsh wlan delete profile name="SpySoft"

After which the password from the WiFi network will be deleted.

That's all. I hope you succeeded and were able to delete the WiFi password saved in Windows.

Connecting a laptop to a wireless, Wi-Fi, network does not always go smoothly. If you're having problems, check out the step-by-step instructions to help you troubleshoot. We recommend not to ignore this or that action, but to perform everything sequentially, as in the article.

Diagnosing the source of the problem

To determine the source, connect your iPad, smartphone, computer (any other device) to a Wi-Fi network. If the connection on any of the devices is successful, the conclusions are obvious - the problem lies in the laptop. And if you fail to connect via a wireless network, as in the first option, it means that the router is not configured properly. We will consider both cases separately. So, what to do if the problem is in the laptop?

Hardware enablement of the Wi-Fi module of a laptop

To solve it, the first thing you need to do is check the status of the wireless adapter of the “problem” device. It may be disabled, and therefore the Wi-Fi network does not work on this device. The adapter is connected with a specific set of buttons and shows operation using a light indicator.

To connect the wireless network module, a specific key combination is required. Any combination begins with the Fn modifier key, to which one of the functional keys is added - F1-F12. If you look closely at the function keys, you will see a wireless, wi-fi, network icon.

Acer laptops differ from more modern models in that they turn on the wireless network module using a special two-position switch. If you have a laptop from this company, you will most likely find this switch on the side. In the screenshots below we showed how the Wi-Fi adapter is turned off or on on laptops from different manufacturers.

Acer: Fn + F3

Software enablement of laptop Wi-Fi module

If you have Windows version 7 operating system, follow these steps::

Step one To enable the Wi-Fi module, go to the “Network and Sharing Center” section (where the time is shown).

Step two On the left, click on “Change network module parameters”.

Installing/reinstalling drivers for the Wi-Fi module

Important information! If in “Network adapters” you do not find the name of the wireless module installed on the laptop, it means there are no drivers. Download them from disk or find them on the official website of the manufacturer.

Troubleshooting connection problems in the router

What to do if the problems lie in the router settings? We cannot consider each individual case, since there are a sufficient number of routers and the software (firmware) installed on them. Therefore, we will limit ourselves to only general tips that will hopefully help you solve the problem with connecting to a wireless, Wi-Fi, network.

1. Place the router next to the computer.
2. Check if the wireless network adapter is turned on (if the indicator light is on).

• Is the wireless network module turned on?
• Is the broadcast channel enabled in the Service Set Identifier?
• Check if your laptop's unique identifier (its MAC address) is on the blacklist.

After performing the operating system diagnostics described in this article, you should solve the problem of connecting Wi-Fi on your laptop.