Dell Security Device and Task Status encountered an error or problem

"Dell Security Device and Task Status has encountered a problem and needs to close"

Had this error come up after loading up a brand new Dell E4300 laptop up for the second time. Choosing "Send Error Report" or "Don't Send" didn't help as it just kept popping up.

Nothing showed up on Google, so I tried to look further into it myself. Not being able to make sense of any of the error report, I decided to take a guess and uninstall the "Dell Security Device Manager" in "Add/Remove Programs" ("Programs & Features" in Vista). Make sure that you don't have "Secure Logon" enabled though - you'll get a message mentioning this before uninstalling the application anyway. Basically if this feature is enabled and you remove the software, you could prevent yourself from being able to use the laptop at all!

You can check yourself by opening the "Dell ControlPoint Connection Manager" then going to "Security" and "Security Manager" and then making sure "Secure Logon" is unticked.

After removing the software, reboot your computer and the error should be gone. No thanks to Dell.

Intel Wireless Software "Device Ownership"

I was recently setting up a wireless connection on a laptop after blatting it and reinstalling the OS. I was asked to install the Intel Wireless Utility to use that for managing the wireless connections, if I had it my way I would of just used the Windows configuration utility, far simpler and uses less resources.

So after installing the Intel software, I tried connecting the laptop to the designated wireless network. However rather than being asked for a network key, it asked me for a 'Device Ownership Password'. It seems Intel are trying to make things more secure for you and your network but if you ask me this is just a major annoyance. To get round this you need to go into Control Panel, then Add/Remove Programs (Programs & Features in Windows Vista). Find the 'Intel PROSet Wireless' software and click 'Change' and then when the window opens, 'Modify'. Remove 'Intel WiFi Protected Setup' from the list of installed components and click 'Next'.

After this the problem should have gone away, might be worth restarting the computer to ensure the changes have come into effect.