Trying to Enable my Wireless Adaptor in Vista

Hi Guys:
My computer at home has been without internet for two months. A lightning storm probably took out my network card and I called HP to buy a new one. It looks like they did not send a compatible part, but when I call them to find out why it didn’t work, they try to get me to buy a new warranty in order to answer the question as to whether I got what I ordered. At this point I am returning the non-working HP part and have a Netgear Wireless Adaptor.
The phone company repairman has checked my phone lines, my internet connection, my router has been tested, and my Windows operating system is working except for the dead network card.
But, when installing the Wireless Adaptor I get to the screen where it tells me to plug in the adaptor, and I do, and it does not read it there. When I checked my networking settings, I see the WNA 3100 there, but it is listed as disabled (so I know the USB sees it), and when I attempt to enable it, it does not work. I have also confirmed that I have installed the optimal drivers for this adaptor.
I work in a law firm, and cannot use service chat rooms on my computer at work to ask repair questions, even on my lunch hour. My smart phone’s screen is too small for me to read instructions at home. I have spent hours on this, and because I have no internet at home, limited use of internet at work – I am having a devil or a time figuring this out.
I have Windows Vista, do you have some ideas as to what settings I should turn on or off in my operating system so my computer will allow me to enable the adaptor to communicate with my router?
If network monitoring is preventing my adaptor from working, as the instruction manual suggests, how do I find it to turn it off? If you have a thread going that addresses this issue that I have missed, my apologies and please point me to it. I really would like to keep this 5 ½ year old beast going a while longer.
Thanks for your help, and thanks for the January tips about the Ion products, I did purchase it after Google Chrome slipped a Trojan into my operating system, and I have been very pleased with this company.

 

When you go to Control Panel -> Device Manager -> Network Adaptors and expand it, what do you see? The Netgear wireless adaptor is connected via USB? If you expand Universal Serial Bus controllers in Device Manager, what do you see?

 

Hello, I went home and wrote down what I saw in the device manager. For the network adaptors it was:

Wireless N-300 USB Adapter WNA3100

For the device managers it was:

Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Enhanced Host
Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Enhanced Host Controller – 3A3A
Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Enhanced Host Controller – 3A3C
Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Controller – 3A34
Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Controller – 3A35
Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Controller – 3A36
Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Controller – 3A37
Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Controller – 3A38
Intel(R) ICH10 Family USB Universal Controller – 3A39
USB Composite Device
USB Mass Storage Device
USB Printing Support
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub
USB Root Hub

I clicked on properties on each item and saw a message that the device was working properly. Thank you for taking a look.