Take a look at your taskbar (bottom right corner of the screen where the time is) and see what the network icon looks like, when working normally you’ll see either two little monitors, for wired connections, or one monitor with little curved lines beside it for WIFI connections.

As Windows XP was designed before the Internet was mandatory in the workplace this icon makes no distinction between local network and Internet connectivity so you’ll only see a little red cross on these icons if you have no network connectivity whatsoever, here’s what to do depending on which one you can see.

Red Cross – This one means that your PC can’t detect a physical or wireless connection.

• Have a look at the back of your PC to make sure that your network cable is firmly plugged in and then follow it to where it connects to a network port, checking for damage along the way. If the cable or network port is visibly damaged then that’ll be your culprit and all you need to do is get a new cable or switch to a different network port, you may need some IT help to find the cables or an available port. If there are no visible signs of damage it’s still worthwhile trying a different network port and cable.

• If you connect via WIFI and you see this then check to see if there’s an on/off button for the WIFI card, almost all laptops have one in an annoyingly easy to nudge place, if you’re sure WIFI’s switched on then left click on the network icon and check if your wireless network is displayed and click on it to connect if it is.

• If neither of these solved your connection problems then try rebooting your PC/Laptop, a bit cliché but amazing how many problems it can fix!

Looks normal – Means a physical or WIFI connection is detected but doesn’t reflect internet connectivity.

• Right click on your network icon and select repair.

• Reboot your PC/Laptop.

• Right click on your network icon and select Open Network Connections, in this window you should see icons representing any network connections on your machine. Right click on the network icon and select properties, then highlight Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), but make sure you don’t remove the tick from beside it, and clickProperties. In this window you will most likely see dots beside Obtain an IP address automatically and ObtainDNS server address automatically, if not and you’re being presented with a lot of numbers then check with a colleague to see how theirs is configured,
  • If automatically then try setting yours to automatically.
  • If they too have a lot of numbers in here then you’d probably best contact us as these numbers are your network addressing, they allow your PC/Laptop to communicate with everything else on the network.