Rick: Yes, the driver I recently installed on my XPS 8700 was this one: Dell Wireless1703 802.11 b/g/n,BT4.0 + HS Driver,   Version 9.2.0.514, A00 So as you suggested, the HS almost certainly stands for "HotSpot Station".  So that's obviously how I got the unwanted install of both Hotspot and Atheros "SmartNet" (asav.exe).  They are both located in the directory created at the time of the driver install.   Both of which apparently are somehow triggered to run on their own, at least for the first time.   After that surprise,  I have since changed the names of the executable files so they won't run. You asked me to PM you to "try something", but I'm not the one with the HotSpot issue.  I was just adding that it's not solely on the factory image, but is also present in at least some wireless driver packages, as I discovered to my surprise.   I'll bow out now.  Thanks! Thanks.
New computer - XPS-8700.  Windows 7 Pro, SP1.   No real problems with the machine.  However, I am having a new problem with Hotspot Station.  Although HS sees my phone and iPod and each of those see my network, neither of them will connect to the net through HS.  The devices were connecting just fine until sometime yesterday afternoon, then for some reason, they stopped connecting.  Both devices display all of the DHCP info - IP, Subnet, Router etc - Except the Client ID, which is blank. The computer and devices have been re-booted to no avail.   Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.  Thank you for your time.
Hotspot Station Quit Working