Most of a "local access" solution…

Well I can’t say for sure that I’ve found a complete solution to the problem of Vista deciding I should only be allowed local access, as opposed to internet and local access, when using either my Wi-Fi card or my USBConnect 881 card. It’s all in the firewall.
This Toshiba came with a MacAfee security suite. I removed it because after 30 days I’d have to pay to continue using and because RoadRunner, my home provider gives us a copy of the CA security suite.
The problem seems to be one of limited access to an existing found network which suggests a problem with the actual connection or a security problem. Since I’m not a networking guru I checked the security settings. After playing around with the settings in CA to no avail, including turning off the CA firewall, I realized there is also a Window Firewall available through the control panel. I turned that off and voila, I can now access the internet through my USBConnect without getting dropped (unless the computer goes to sleep). Now if I could just get Linux to recognize the card… 🙂
Aloha!