[SOLVED] Recommend a network router for Windows 10

[plzhelpwithinternet]

So I recently switched to windows 10 from 8.1 and now I can't get my network adapter card (TP Link TF 3200) to work anymore. It just shows unknown device and when I try to install the tf 3200 driver (which is for win 7 but worked fine for 8.1) it says windows can't find a driver. Tried a bunch of things, nothing worked. Unless there IS a way to get it to work I will change to something else.

So here are the pre requisites, my motherboard only has a PCI 32 bit slot clear and I use ethernet cable. I tried to find an adapter for that which supports both win10 and age-old PCI, got nothing (Region: India). So I looked into this- https://www.amazon.in/TP-Link-TL-WR841N-300Mbps-Wireless-N-Router/dp/B07JQ7157K/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1548686002&sr=1-4&pi=AC_SX118_SY170_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=wifi%2Brouter&th=1&psc=1

And this-https://www.amazon.in/Receiver-300Mbps-802-11b-Wireless-Network/dp/B0141EZMAI/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1548686227&sr=8-3&pi=AC_SX118_SY170_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=network+wifi+usb&dpPl=1&dpID=41pEuCeKYxL&ref=plSrch

I'm really bad at network stuff so if I buy those 2 and plug my ethernet cable in the router and the usb in the pc, will I be able to use internet?

 

[bill001g]

You must have a very old PC that does not have ethernet on the motherboard. As I am sure you have found almost all ethernet cards that have support for window 10 are PCI-E the older PCI cards do not seem to have drivers.

That is the very hard way to do it but it would work I guess. You would want to run the router in AP mode just to make some network things simpler.

You are much better off using a USB ethernet card. Since I suspect you have older USB ports also I would use 10/100 you need USB3 ports to get gigabit speeds.

 

[plzhelpwithinternet]

You must have a very old PC that does not have ethernet on the motherboard. As I am sure you have found almost all ethernet cards that have support for window 10 are PCI-E the older PCI cards do not seem to have drivers.

That is the very hard way to do it but it would work I guess. You would want to run the router in AP mode just to make some network things simpler.

You are much better off using a USB ethernet card. Since I suspect you have older USB ports also I would use 10/100 you need USB3 ports to get gigabit speeds.

Yeah my motherboard had a ethernet slot but it got fried in a sudden thundershock. I need to be sure this will work though and can you explain on the AP mode a bit?

I thought about USB Ethernet cards but aren't those like REALY slow from USB 2.0? My current network adapter (which doesn't work anymore) is actually a 10/100mbs anyways though.

P.S - I accidentally downvoted your solution, how do I revote?

 

[bill001g]

Some routers have a AP mode otherwise you will find huge number of posts about how to use a router as a AP. It is mostly cabling to lan port.

You are still plugging a wifi adapter into the same USB port. If ethernet is going to be slow then wifi will be also. USB2 should have no issues running at 100mbps. The wifi will be much less than 100mbps even if you connected it to a USB3 port. You will get only a tiny fraction of that 300 number they list.

 

[jsmithepa]

W10 is a major re-write, u can't just throw a W7/8/XP driver to it and expect it to work. Your old NIC probably wasn't updated with a W10-specific driver hence the suggestion to get new hardware.