Wired News looks into Windows XP's dropped Wi-Fi connection problem: Daniel Terdiman tries to dig for the bodies in his search for why Windows XP drops Wi-Fi network connections inexplicably and often shows them as still active. Microsoft claims there's no systematic problem, but it's clear from reading any forum in which Wi-Fi is discussed--such as the DSLReports.com site--that this is a frequent issue.
My solution, provided to me by a vendor about two years ago, of restarting Wireless Zero Configuration is explained in the article. This has solved 99 percent of my Windows XP Wi-Fi problems, but it's nestled so deeply that it's baffling. I've felt for a while that Microsoft should have a top-level interface to WZC because when it stops running, the user has no idea that anything's afoot until they drill down, down, down, and see that the setting reads "not running."