Worked fine yesterday, switched it on today and it won't connect. My laptop knows the network is there but when I try to connect it won't let me
When I opened "network sharing center" and went into "change adapter settings" there's a red cross under local area connection, local area connection 2 and wifi
I'm terrible with computers and about ready to launch my laptop into on-coming traffic. Please help 
HAVE YOU TRIED LIFTING MORE BRO?
MAYBE YOUR LAPTOP HATES THAT ITS OWNED BY A GAY ASS FAGGOT?
Is there a physical button on the laptop somewhere that has the wifi turned off?
This happened to me the other day. All I did was go into network settings, disconnect from the network and then reconnected it. Worked for me. 
you running windows 8? i had this same problem, i had to update the driver.
Sandy Pantz - Is there a physical button on the laptop somewhere that has the wifi turned off?But he's saying it detects the network but just won't connect to it. I don't think it would detect any network with wifi off, would it?
Yea, check and see if there a physical switch on the laptop (usually on the side) to turn the wireless NIC on and off.
open up command prompt, type in everything between the quotes "net sh winsock reset". This resets the TCP/IP stack. Reboot. Try again.
ttt
BIGWHITESEXY -I read this in an Indian accent and imagined you to be the best technical support agent ever.
HAVE YOU TRIED LIFTING MORE BRO?
MAYBE YOUR LAPTOP HATES THAT ITS OWNED BY A GAY ASS FAGGOT?
Flight mode isn't switched on and yer, It's windows 8
da Vinci 81 -Sandy Pantz - Is there a physical button on the laptop somewhere that has the wifi turned off?But he's saying it detects the network but just won't connect to it. I don't think it would detect any network with wifi off, would it?
You're probably correct, but I was thinking maybe the network was still listed from memory of having been previously connected.
MrFluffyHippo -BIGWHITESEXY -I read this in an Indian accent and imagined you to be the best technical support agent ever.
HAVE YOU TRIED LIFTING MORE BRO?
MAYBE YOUR LAPTOP HATES THAT ITS OWNED BY A GAY ASS FAGGOT?
HAHAHA
Right click your network in the list and forget it then reconnect and punch in the key.
If this fails then open up 'device manager' and expand network adapters. Find the name of your wireless/wlan adapter and get the newest driver from the manufacturers website. Then right click the adapter in device manager and uninstall. Tick to remove drivers. Reboot then install the drivers you downloaded.
Actually before you uninstall anything just try running the inbuilt troubleshooter.
Right click the icon in the system tray and hit troubleshoot/diagnose.
This happened to me about a month ago. My bro told me to system restore to a time when it worked. That did the trick for me
System restore is not the first thing to try. Probably it will work but there can be collateral damage.
peakes - Right click your network in the list and forget it then reconnect and punch in the key.On windows 8 you're meant to right click the network to forget/remove it, but when I open the networks side bar the right click button does nothing
If this fails then open up 'device manager' and expand network adapters. Find the name of your wireless/wlan adapter and get the newest driver from the manufacturers website. Then right click the adapter in device manager and uninstall. Tick to remove drivers. Reboot then install the drivers you downloaded.
I went into network and sharing Center > change adapter settings > opened properties on my wifi network> configure > update driver and it says the driver is up to date
Click my computer, search for "system32" and wait for it to load the files. Then hold ctrl key and the a key to select them all. Hit the delete button and wait. If any errors come up then you know you've found the cause of the wireless problem. When its done deleting Windows will repopulate the files and that should restore your drive files for your wireless.
Hope this helps.
The point is they might be screwed up so you want to remove fully and replace.
I'm not near a w8 machine to remind myself how to remove config for a wireless network sorry.