I'm running Win XP Pro SP2 on a Thinkpad portable using WPA security.
When I go out to a cafe, I sometimes try to find an open network by clicking on the wireless icon in the taskbar and choosing show available networks.
This will usually provide me with a list of available networks in my area and also will tell me which are secured and which are not. I choose one that is not secured and click connect. Sometimes it works and sometimes it just says it's acquiring the network address forever.
My real problem is that when I return home and I go to connect to my own wireless network, I have to put in all 20+ digits of my WPA security code again. How do I connect to another network, come back to my own, and not have to re-enter my WPA all over again each time?
I also notice that the other networks I've tried, successful connections or not, have been added to "preferred networks" and I have to remove them to connect at all.
Is this normal windows XP behavior and is there any way around it?
TIA
Louise