Hp just installed "Ralink," not sure what it is or if it's needed

[desudesudesu]

The HP Support Assistant on my Windows 7 asked me to install a new driver called Ralink 802.11n Wireless LAN. I wasn't thinking and installed it and i'm wondering what this is. A new program is on my computer called "Ralink Wireless Utility" and my internet settings now say i'm not connected to my D-Link router, however, my internet is running fine so far and i've noticed no difference since the installation. The Ralink program itself i also exited and nothing has changed.

So now my computer says i'm not connected to my router and i'm not connected to whatever this Ralink thing is. When i click on it it asks me to select Wi-Fi direct or Wi-fi Hotspot. I'm really confused as to what is going on. Whatever this is, i'd rather not have it in my computer since i have little to no knowledge of what it is(and google hasn't helped so far), but i'm not sure if it's a good idea to uninstall it.

Any assistance would be most appreciated.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Your os has a built in wireless manager,so you don't need it.

 

[desudesudesu]

I see. Many thanks, i've uninstalled the program. But would it make a difference if i were to stay disconnected from the router? As it stands now i don't notice anything, and when i do reconnect the little monitor icon that it's always been changes to how many bars the connection is, so i assume something must be different. This option has never been there before, so i'm a little paranoid.

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

It should auto-reconnect by way of the OS network settings.

 

[john-b691]

You are still running the driver itself they may have a feature that does it. I suspect you can change this by changing the settings. I tend to like the ra-link software, It provides a nice display of all the active network in the area and what channels and protocol they are all running.

 

[desudesudesu]

The Ralink driver is still in? I've looked but i haven't seen anything related to it after uninstalling. Assuming it is, where might i find it to check?

 

[john-b691]

You should be able to go to network settings and see which driver it is using. Generally you have to manually change the driver to back it out,there should be a option to role it back. Windows does ship with some network drivers for the more common chipset. Ralink is one of the largest chipset producers and so I suspect they have provided one to microsoft. More than likely it is not the most current which is why you got promoted to replace it.

Unless it causes a problem you are best off running with the newest driver.