How to Disable an Internet Connection
You may find yourself needing to disable an Internet connection. If the network connection suddenly stops functions sometimes disabling and re-enabling it can repair the problem. You also may want to disable an Internet connection if you are sharing with other computers, and no longer want to. Disabling an Internet connection is easy and can be done in just a few minutes.
- Open the Windows Control Panel on your computer. To locate the control Panel look on the Windows Start Menu.
- Select either the "Network and Internet" or "Network Connections" option on the Control Panel. An easy way to do this, if necessary, is to first open the icon for "Network and "Internet Connections" in the Control Panel and then from that screen choose "Network Connections." The Control Panel will refresh all new options.
- Open the Network and Sharing Center by clicking the "view network status and tasks" from the Network and Internet window if you have Windows 7 or Windows Vista. For Windows XP, the Network connections window has options for Dial-up and LAN / High-Speed Internet connections installed. Chose the list of LAN / High-Speed Internet connections, and select the corresponding icon to the network that you want to disable.
- Click on the "Disconnect" option in Windows 7 or Windows Vista. This will pop up a window that displays the current connection status. Use this window to Disconnect from the active network.
- Right-click on the selected network connection in Windows XP and a popup screen will appear. To disable the Internet connection click on the first option on the menu that will be "Disable."
- Close the Network Connections in the Control Panel window once you are finished.