After the Great Comcast Disaster of ‘06, I gave my old, extra router to my girlfriend. It’s been running just fine for months and now her roommate wants to plug into it. And she wants the installation software for the router. I told her something along the lines of, “I probably have it, but you totally don’t need it to connect. I’ve never used it.”
She insisted that computers can’t connect through a router unless that router’s software is installed.
Had she not been so insistent, I might have suggested that she just needed to restart the router. But who am I to keep her from the fun of looking up the router manufacturer; finding, downloading, and installing the software; and then rewiring everything… and then restarting the router.
[the extra technical details: ]
My donated router, the “new” one, when installed, was piggybacked onto the existing, “old,” non-wireless router. It was the easiest way to do the installation as I didn’t have to undo anything nor convince anyone that it was best to remove the “old” router (you call it lazy, I call it smart). That means that when the roommate unplugged the “new” router from the old one and plugged it into the modem, the “new” router probably needed to be restarted.
Addendum 1: Ok, so I was nice enough to track down the software CD in my Book O’ Rarely Used Computer-Related CDs.
This an actual blessing. By not accepting your advice she has voided the nobrainer support warranty ™ . Any time they have internet issue from now on, they can’t call you, as your advice seems to not be needed.