Why does the wireless network icon have a red X over it when everything seems to work?

Posted by Kristo on Super User See other posts from Super User or by Kristo
Published on 2010-12-31T14:53:23Z Indexed on 2010/12/31 14:55 UTC
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I booted my almost brand new laptop running Windows 7 this morning and noticed a red X through the wireless networking icon in the system tray. At first I thought something was wrong, but clicking on it shows a good connection to my wireless network. I had no problem getting here to post this question. I'm very new to Windows 7 so I have no idea how to troubleshoot this myself. Is there an actual problem here? Can I fix the icon so it doesn't falsely display an error (I assume that's what the red X means)?

Here's what I know:

  • I can get here to post this question.
  • There's at least one unsecured network available that I'm not connected to.
  • I can see a bunch of wireless networks, presumably from my neighbors' houses.
  • There are no other computers turned on in my house right now.
  • The device manager shows no problems with any devices.
  • I can ping my default gateway, DNS, and yahoo.com with no problem.

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