Computer Help...please? 2 questions :)?

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My laptop broke and my sister had her older one still (a few years old) she gave it to me. Her being her forgot the password, it was a few years ago so you cant really blame her. Me and my mom tried to guess a whooooole lot of things but we couldnt get in. She also got rid of the admin user account so that wasnt an option. Then we tried ophcrack, we had no clue what we were doing and failed completely..... My mom ended up uninstalling windows which, as far as I know, cleaned it out along with restarting the enttiiire computer? Since I live with my dad (divorced) and my mom doesnt have internet she kinda just gave it to me and told me to do what ever updates it needs/tells me to do and ill be set.... I KNOW ALMOST NOTHING ABOUT ACTUAL COMPUTERS THEMSELFS (only the stuff a normal teenagers knowledge expands to games, etc.) I dont know what this computer needs. Sooo if you know what I would need....Oh and the other problem im having is I have a router and it works/ed fine with my old laptop, sisters new laptop, ipodtouch, all that wirelessly (automatically)but when I press connect to a network it doesnt give me the option to connect to my wireless thing. The only way I can get internet with this laptop is if I have it connected to the router with one of those cords that look like the ones phones use and plug into the wall.



Question #1 - If windows was uninstalled and reinstalled what do I need to update/install?



Question #2 How do I setup wireless conection to an older version that I guess does not come with whats needed to do it and be able to not use a cord connected directly to the router?1 --



Software you might need to update are Microsoft Office and your web browsers. Usually when you reinstall your OS or use a ghost disk, you need to update those because those might not have been on the disk you use to reformat your computer. Your computer will update most other necessary files upon reboot.



2 --



Your computer needs to have installed a wireless internet card. You can find these at phone or computer stores. Also, there might be some drivers for your version of Windows that you would also need to download in order to access the internet wirelessly.A better place for questions like this might be in a forum where you can have some back and forth with people on the subject, yahoo answers is useless for technical questions, especially if we require clarification.



Be sure to say what operating system you're using if you want help.