I just purchased an HP Pavilion dv6324us with Windows Vista. I have no problem connecting to my linksys home wireless network (which in unsecure) nor my friend's home network, but when I have tried to connect at free wifi places, like Panera or Brueggers Bagels, it doesn't work. It says that it has connected to their server but I can't bring up the web browser page to finish connecting to the internet. It says it can ping the server but isn't receiving a response. Please help!

Some WiFi networks require a username/password in order to utilize their services. For example at virtually every airport I have gone to one has to pay for their services, either on a hourly rate or through a standard subscription either based upon useage or unlimited services.

I don't believe your problem is unique to your operating system of Vista. To be sure, try using a computer with a different operating system. In that way you can verify that something is wrong with your computer, the particular WiFi site, or as I said, the WiFi site is actually "a closed" system.