2011-06-29, 01:20 PM
I know you said you didn't want to have to buy anything, but with the situation you've presented it looks like buying an adapter is your only option.
There are 2 predominant kinds of wireless cards you can get for your PC:
One of them is USB; the simple no-brainer approach. Just plug it in, hopefully windows will automatically detect the drivers, and if it doesn't then just use the CD supplied.
The other option is to get a PCI Wireless card, this is something that slots into a part of the motherboard on the inside of the computer. It might be a little confusing at first but there are plenty of guides online regarding how to install it(open case, place card in empty PCI slot[usually a white base]).
From personal experience I've always had better, more stable luck(for gaming) with PCI cards over USB. But with this being your mom, a USB would probably suffice.
Depending on where you look you could get either of the two for 10-50$, but you pay for what you get in most cases. The newer, more fancy adapters with all of the high-speed 802.11n technology will obviously cost a little more than an 802.11b/g adapter.
There are 2 predominant kinds of wireless cards you can get for your PC:
One of them is USB; the simple no-brainer approach. Just plug it in, hopefully windows will automatically detect the drivers, and if it doesn't then just use the CD supplied.
The other option is to get a PCI Wireless card, this is something that slots into a part of the motherboard on the inside of the computer. It might be a little confusing at first but there are plenty of guides online regarding how to install it(open case, place card in empty PCI slot[usually a white base]).
From personal experience I've always had better, more stable luck(for gaming) with PCI cards over USB. But with this being your mom, a USB would probably suffice.
Depending on where you look you could get either of the two for 10-50$, but you pay for what you get in most cases. The newer, more fancy adapters with all of the high-speed 802.11n technology will obviously cost a little more than an 802.11b/g adapter.