Last week you connected to the Wi-Fi network of the bar you have at home, and, from that day, your notebook tends to commit to that network instead of the one you have in your home? It can happen and, in these cases, the solutions that can be adopted are two: remove one of the connections from the memory of your computer (or your mobile device, since the problem in question also affects smartphones and tablets) or disable the automatic connection to the unwanted network (in this case, the bar network), so as to have it available in case of need but avoid that this “overlaps” with other networks that are used more frequently (in your case, the home Wi-Fi network).
I assure you that it is a very simple operation to complete and the advantages it brings are really enormous: by implementing it, in fact, you can keep the access keys to all the wireless networks you have nearby without risking that these are preferred to the networks you usually use to connect to the Internet. I just must wish you a good read!
Delete automatic wi-fi connection on Windows.
If your intent is to eliminate the automatic connection on Windows, I suggest you read all the advice that I will give you in the next chapters.
Windows 10
Want to automatically connect to a wireless network and use Windows 10 (or later)? In this case, click on the Start button (the flag icon located in the lower left corner of the screen) and access the Settings menu through the gear icon located on the left side of the menu that appeared on the desktop.
In the window that is proposed to you, click on the Network and Internet icon, select the Wi-Fi item from the left sidebar and press the Manage known networks option. Once this is done, select the Wi-Fi network to which you no longer want to connect automatically, click on the Properties button, and deactivate the lever related to the Connect automatically if option in the field.
Mission accomplished! From now on, Windows will continue to remember the Wi-Fi network access password you have selected, but it will no longer automatically connect to it. To establish the connection, you will have to select the network “manually” from the appropriate Windows menu (the cleats icon located at the bottom right, next to the system clock) and click on the Connect button.
If, instead of disabling the automatic connection to a network, you want to completely delete the latter and make Windows “forget” its access key, go to the Settings menu > Network and Internet > Wi-Fi, click on the item Manage known networks, select the network to be deleted and presses the Cancel storage button.
Or, if you do not want your PC to automatically connect to any wireless network, you should use Airplane Mode instead. In this case, click on the notification icon, at the bottom right of the taskbar and press on the Airplane mode button. By doing so, the wireless card will be disabled, and your computer will no longer connect to any network.
If you want to act in a similar way on any network connection, even the wired one, instead you must disable the network card manually, from the appropriate Windows settings panel. This is a procedure that works on any version of Windows.
Therefore, through the search field at the bottom of the taskbar (or in the Start menu on older editions of Windows), type the term “control panel” and click on the appropriate search result. Then press on the Network and Internet items > Network and Sharing Center > Change adapter settings.
At this point, locate the network adapter you want to disable (whether LAN or Wi-Fi), right-click on it and then, in the context menu, select the disabled item. In case you want to re-enable the network card, follow the same procedure, but select the Enable item from the context menu of the card to be reactivated.
Windows 7
Still using Windows 7? No problem: even this old OS allows you to disable the automatic connection to selected wireless networks.
To proceed, click on the Start button (the flag icon located in the lower left corner of the screen), open the Control Panel, and select the Network and Internet icon from the window that appeared on the desktop.
Next, go to Network and Sharing Center, select the Manage wireless networks item from the left sidebar, right-click on the name of the network to which you no longer want to connect automatically and select the Properties item from the context menu.
In the window that opens, remove the check mark from the item Connect automatically when the network is in the computer field, presses the OK button and you are done Windows will no longer automatically connect to the network you selected. To establish the connection, you will need to access the wireless networks menu (the Wi-Fi cleats icon located at the bottom right, next to the system clock) and select the network to connect to.
To completely delete a network, instead and make Windows 7 “forget” its login data, select it from the Manage wireless networks menu and click on the Remove button located at the top. Answer, therefore, affirmatively (Yes) to the warning that appears on the screen, and you are done.
Delete AutoConnect on Mac
If you are using a Mac and want to disable the automatic connection to a wireless network, do the following: click on the multifunction icon located in the menu bar (the two sticks located at the top right, near the system clock), go to Wi-Fi and select the Network Preferences item from the menu that appears.
In the window that opens, select the Wi-Fi item from the left sidebar, choose the name of the network for which you want to disable automatic connection in the Network Name drop-down menu and delete the check mark from the box Automatically connect to this network.
Mission accomplished! From this moment on, even if the Wi-Fi network you choose will be within range of the Mac, to connect to it you will have to select it from the Wi-Fi menu (accessible by clicking on the network icon located at the top right of the macOS menu bar). You won’t need to type your password (which will be stored in your Mac’s keychain) to access the network.
If you do not want to simply disable the automatic connection to a network, but completely erase it from the “memory” of your Mac, click on the multifunction icon located in the menu bar (top right) and select the Wi-Fi and Network Preferences items from the menu that appears.
In the window that is proposed to you, select the Wi-Fi item from the left sidebar, then presses the Advanced button, select the network to be deleted and press the [-] button located at the bottom. By doing so, to reconnect to the network in the future, you will have to select it from the Wi-Fi menu and type its access key.
If you want to disable the request for automatic access to new networks, go to the System Preferences menu > Network, select the Wi-Fi item from the left sidebar and uncheck the option Ask to access new networks.
If you intend to completely disable Wi-Fi access on Mac, press the Wi-Fi icon in the menu bar (top right) and select Turn off Wi-Fi.
Delete auto-connect on Android.
If you have an Android smartphone or tablet, you can avoid automatic connection to a Wi-Fi network by using different solutions, which I will indicate in the following paragraphs.
First, some Android smartphones or tablets come with a native feature that allows you to disable automatic connection to a specific wireless network saved on your device. In this way, with Wi-Fi on in the terminal, even if the network is available, the connection will not be made.
To do this, launch the Settings app and go to the Wi-Fi item. Now, move the stick to ON and locate the network to which the Android device connects each time automatically. Then presses the gear icon on the side and scroll the screen, until you find the item Automatic connection. Then move the lever on the side from ON to OFF, to disable the automatic connection.
To make your device “forget” a Wi-Fi network, instead, open the Settings app, select the Wi-Fi item, tap the name of the network to be disassociated from the device and presses the Forget button (or another equivalent item) in the box that opens.
If you want to disable the automatic connection request for open Wi-Fi networks, always in the menu dedicated to Wi-Fi networks, presses the Menu button, access the advanced settings, and move the lever on the Network Notification option to OFF.
Another operation you can do (but only available on some Android models) is to disable the automatic activation of the Wi-Fi network when you are geographically near a saved network (active geolocation is therefore required). In the Android Settings panel, under Wi-Fi, scroll down the screen, press on the Wi-Fi Preferences item, and move the lever to OFF near the words Turn on Wi-Fi automatically.
How do you say? Would you like to avoid “forgetting” the passwords of Wi-Fi networks to your device? Then you could install an app to schedule the automatic shutdown of Wi-Fi based on various days and / or times. There are many applications suitable for this purpose on the Play Store and alternative stores (just search for “Wi-Fi timer”), but the only one that worked well in my tests is Tasker.
If you have never heard of it, Tasker is a very advanced application for Android that, at a cost of 3.69 euros one-off, allows you to program a wide range of automatic operations based on various triggers (therefore various triggering events). We can compare it a bit to software like Keyboard Master for macOS or AutoHotkey for Windows. Its potential, therefore, is endless, provided you lose some time to learn how it works.
To set Wi-Fi to automatically turn off with Tasker, download the app from the Play Store, launch it and go to the Profiles tab. Press, then, on the (+) button located at the bottom right and create a new profile based on Time and / or Day, based on your preferences (i.e. when you want to disable Wi-Fi). Next, press the back arrow, tap the button to create a new activity, assign a name to the activity (e.g. Wi-Fi shutdown) and presses the symbol (√).
On the next screen, presses the (+) button, search for the term Wi-Fi in the filter field and choose the Wi-Fi action from the search results. Then set the drop-down menu at the top to OFF and press the back arrow to save the changes. From now on, Wi-Fi will automatically turn off on the day and/or time set in Tasker.
If you want, you can also follow the same steps to create a rule that can automatically turn Wi-Fi back on. By turning off Wi-Fi, the 3G/4G connection will come into operation. To also disable the 3G/4G network, go to the Settings menu > More > Mobile Network and move the Mobile Data toggle to OFF.
Delete auto-connect on iOS/iPadOS.
iPhone and iPad offer the ability to turn off automatic connection to Wi-Fi networks, but not to schedule the connection to be disabled. You can also select a network and delete it from the iOS/iPadOS settings, so that the system no longer remembers its access password and, therefore, can no longer use it automatically.
As for disabling automatic access to a saved wireless network, launch the Settings app (the gear icon located on the home screen) and select the Wi-Fi item. At this point, press the icon (i) next to the name of the network to which you no longer want to connect automatically and, in the screen that is shown to you, move the lever next to the word Automatic access to OFF.
To delete a Wi-Fi network from your iPhone or iPad, open the Settings app, go to Wi-Fi and tap the icon (i) located next to the name of the network you want to “forget” your device. At this point, presses on the item Dissociate this network, respond Dissociate to the warning that appears on the screen and you are done.
If you want to completely disable Wi-Fi connectivity, instead, go to the Wi-Fi > Settings menu and move the Wi-Fi function lever to OFF: in this way, iOS will continue to remember the access keys to the networks but will not connect to them and will use (if available) the 3G / 4G / 5G data network in its place.
To also disable the 3G / 4G network, go to the Settings menu > Cellular of iOS and move the lever for the Cellular Data option to OFF. To avoid, instead, the automatic connection to open Wi-Fi networks, go to the Wi-Fi > Settings menu and set the item Request network access to Not active. To prevent your device from automatically accessing hotspots, set the Never value at the bottom.