Out, damned WiFi spot! Out, I say!

[cranioscopical]

Running Windows 10.

I recently dropped one ISP in favour of another.

My WiFi is connected to the router provided by the current ISP.

The previous router has been removed, all cable disconnected.

When I select the internet icon on the task bar, the fly-out still shows entries for the old, defunct ISP as options

It looks roughly like this:

NewISP
Connected, Secured
---------------------
NewISP_5G
Secured
---------------------
OldISP_24G
Secured
---------------------
OldISP_5G
Secured

How can I remove the OldISP entries?

I've tried various netsh wlan commands which I thought should have done the job.

It's only a cosmetic issue but I'd prefer not see entries for non-existent connections.

Any help would be welcome.

[Deozaan]

Can't you right-click the old ones and select "Forget"?

[x16wda]

Right click the tray icon and choose Open Network and Internet Settings.
When that box appears, select Wi-Fi on the left, and the third option down in the middle should say "Manage known networks".
Select the old ones one by one and choose Forget.

[cranioscopical]

Thanks for the response 

Yeah, tried that one already. Supposedly forgotten already but... there they are, hanging on.

[IainB]

Yes, they are persistent. I seem to recall that I accidentally discovered how to do this in Win10 Pro - by resetting the wifi device.
Go to Windows+X, Device Manager, Network Adapters and select the wifi device, then do the steps uninstall-reboot-reinstall (or maybe it was disable - reboot - enable) on that wifi device. It expunged the traces in the Registry. Try it and see.

[cranioscopical]

Thanks for the suggestion, Iain.

I tried all of that. I now see only the network that I have under "Manage Known Networks."
Unfortunately, the defunct network still appears if I click the icon in the system tray.

If I right-click entries for my remaining network I can select from
Connect
Properties
Forget

If I right-click on entries for the 'ghost' network I am offered only Connect.
At that point it will collect the password and then... do nothing.

This is just a cosmetic issue but also annoying.

Windows trouble shooter fires blanks.

[4wd]

The page below gives you the standard methods of deleting WiFi networks, (Forget and netsh), and also shows you how to remove from the registry:

How to Delete Wireless Network Profiles in Windows 10 / 8 / 7

Method 3: Delete Wireless Network Profile Using Registry Editor

• Open the Registry Editor and navigate to the following key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\NetworkList\Profiles
• Click each subkey under Profiles, and check the ProfileName value on the right to see if that is the wireless network connection you want to remove. Once you find the subkey, right-click on it and select Delete.

Might need to Restart after.

[IainB]

Wow, that really is annoyingly persistent. Sort of like Cortana or Windows Telemetry.
Must be a bug somewhere(?).
It seems you now have it narrowed down to Registry and/or Group Policy settings to fiddle with to finally expunge it.

[cranioscopical]

It's the MS version of Whack-a-Mole   

Hunted them down in the registry, deleted same, sat back with a sigh of relief... and back they came.

At the moment I can't rid my Android phone of them either.

[Stoic Joker]

At the moment I can't rid my Android phone of them either.

-cranioscopical (July 09, 2019, 11:02 PM)

So maybe it is a currently active network nearby that is being redetected..

[cranioscopical]

So maybe it is a currently active network nearby that is being redetected..

I'm a duffer at this (could you tell?  )

Gentlemen,
 
1) Would redetected networks show up with the specific names that I'd allocated to them? I'll trawl the registry and see if and where those names are still present.

2) If other machines on my network retain the names of the defunct connections, would that 're-infect' the machine from which the names were expunged?

If it takes a man a week to walk a fortnight...

[Ath]

Is there possibly a wifi-repeater active, still re-publishing the now no longer available SSID?

[cranioscopical]

Is there possibly a wifi-repeater active, still re-publishing the now no longer available SSID?

-Ath (July 10, 2019, 12:38 PM)

That's a very good thought!
I'll look into it as soon as I recover from the latest Win 10 debacle; it nuked my main computer (again, <sigh>). Thank goodness for daily back-ups!

[Stoic Joker]

So maybe it is a currently active network nearby that is being redetected..

1) Would redetected networks show up with the specific names that I'd allocated to them? I'll trawl the registry and see if and where those names are still present.

-cranioscopical (July 10, 2019, 08:50 AM)

If it is a popular in the area ISP generated name, then it could be the neighbors just close enough to look the same SSID.

2) If other machines on my network retain the names of the defunct connections, would that 're-infect' the machine from which the names were expunged?

-cranioscopical (July 10, 2019, 08:50 AM)

While I'm really tempted to say no here …(at the risk of throwing gas on the fire)... It does occur to me that there was a feature similar to that built into Windows devices that shared a Microsoft Account login.

But I believe the act of deleting it from one should also be shared with the others as well. I never played with it because I hate the vary idea of a locally used (Microsoft Controlled) Microsoft Account...I just vaguely recall running across the feature once many moons ago.


Also I really like Ath's angle above.

[cranioscopical]

Removed extender.
Disconnected other machines from the network.
Got my only neighbour (not close) to shut down for a brief trial.
Killed all relevant registry entries.
Rebboted and...

No dice.
Since, for all practical purposes, this is only cosmetic I'll live with it until I stumble across a solution.

Thanks to you all for your help. Please post here if any other suggestions occur to you.

[Stoic Joker]

There is a cell phone app called WiFi Analyzer that will give you the signal strength, MAC address, and manufacturer of the device transmitting. It also has a large single network focused meter that you could walk around with to see when you are getting close(er) to it. That might help narrow down the device in question.