How to forget Wi-Fi networks in Windows 10 to solve problems

When you connect to a wireless network using your laptop computer, the network and the settings are remembered. Most of the time this is useful, but sometimes problems can be solved by clearing them.

If a problem occurs when connecting to a Wi-Fi network or if it is unreliable, it may, in some circumstances, be caused by incorrect or incompatible network settings in Windows.

Who knows how these things get altered, but your Wi-Fi can be working fine for ages and then suddenly it stops working or becomes unreliable. You might not even be able to connect.

The causes of unreliable wireless connections are many and varied, but one simple trick that can sometimes help in these situations is to reset the connection. You basically tell Windows to forget it ever accessed that particular Wi-Fi network and it then clears all the stored settings that are associated with it.

This does not prevent you from ever connecting to that wireless network again. It just means that it treats the network as brand new, like one it has never seen before.

It then works out how best to connect to it and if it is password protected with WPA or WEP security, it will ask you to enter the password. (So don’t do this if you don’t know the password to your Wi-Fi network.)

Here’s how to forget a network in Windows 10.

1 Open Settings

Go to the Start menu and click Settings. Then click Network & Internet.

2 Manage the Wi-Fi

Select the WiFi category on the left if it is not selected automatically. On the right is a list of wireless networks and below the last one is Manage WiFi settings. Click the link.

3 Forget it

Scroll down the settings right to the bottom where there is a list of wireless networks that you have connected to. Click the one you want to remove and then click the Forget button. The settings associated with this Wi-Fi network are deleted.

4 Reconnect to Wi-Fi

Restart Windows and then connect to the network in the usual way. Click the Wi-Fi icon at the right side of the taskbar and then click the name of the wireless network you want to connect to.

This won’t cure every network fault, but it is worth trying, as is rebooting your router. Switch off the power, wait about 10 seconds and then switch it back on. After a minute or so, it will be back up and running and you can try connecting to it.