How do I connect my computer to the internet?

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Long story short, I was conned into reformatting my hard drive because my computer was having massive problems for no good reason. Now my computer fails to detect my router adapter, despite the fact it worked before and the plug and play functionality is enabled. My ISP is AT&T and I have a Netgear WPN111 USB wireless adapter. I only have 30 days left to connect to the internet or Windows XP claims it will cease working. I don'thave any software to speak of, and I need the internet to download the damned drivers that are so important these days. The product websites are unhelpful; their drivers and software don't work and their support sections are both constrictive and elusive. I also don't have the magical Google language required to obtain decent search results, leaving me with either spam or else cluttered forums filled with specific scenarios that don't apply to my situation and replies that either don't solve the issue or else are vague or expensive. In truth I may not even have the weekend left to solve this problem, and this is the third time I've had to write this because MyLot stupidly doesn't allow copying and pasting.