Network Mystery

I have a Dell Latitude D830 laptop running XP SP3. After applying WPA2 encryption the event viewer/system showed DHCP - event 1003 warnings after each start up or return from standby. I changed from "apply an IP address automatically" to a static IP address - default subnet mask - my D-Link DR-655 as gateway - ISP default DNS servers. This eliminated the DHCP warnings.

Here is the mystery. I can still connect to hotspots. I am not complaining about that. But I thought with the static IP address and the router gateway I would be stuck to using it at home at that configuration. Why does it still work at hotspots? Try to help me understand.

Thanks.

In Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) Properties you can have two separate configurations: One on the General tab and another on the Alternate Configuration tab.

For example:

http://www.SpywareDrGuide.com/Virtua...General_01.jpghttp://www.SpywareDrGuide.com/Virtua...ternate_01.jpg

If Windows cannot connect to whatever's on the General tab, it will try whatever's on the Alternate configuration tab.