Computer Icon in Tray Bar Next to Clock has Red X?

Infopackets Reader Ed M. writes:

" Dear Dennis,

I have a Broadcom 440x10/100 Integrated [Ethernet] Controller built onto my computer's main board. On the task bar (near my clock), I can see a computer icon with a red X on top of it. If I hover my mouse over top, it says 'LAN or High Speed Internet' is disconnected. Could you please instruct me on how to connect it? "

My response:

Actually, this sounds like a similar scenario I recently faced when visiting my friend Frank in Toronto, except he has an extra Network card in his machine that is currently not in use (rather than an extra port built onto his main board like you do). Instead of connecting to the Internet using his Network card, Frank had a USB cable which connected him directly to his DSL modem.

Side note: USB stands for 'Universal Serial Bus'. USB is "an interface standard for connecting peripheral devices to computers. Hardware components for implementing a USB interface include connector ports on computers and cables for connecting peripheral devices to the computer. The USB standard supports data transfer rates of 12 Mbps. A single USB port can be used to connect up to 127 peripheral devices." (Source: iet.ucdavis.edu)

Most likely, you have a similar setup. To get rid of the icon with the Red X, you can simply disable the network adapter. To do this, simply right click the computer icon in your tray bar which is reporting no connection, and select "disable". Don't forget to test your Internet connection to make sure you didn't disable the wrong item (you can re-enable the network connection at any time by visiting the Control Panel, right click the connection, and select "enable").