Hello, I have a Dell Inspirion 14 N4050 laptop on which I recently have had to wipe the hard drive due to it being infected by a virus. Due to the reboot, I lost a majority of drivers that enabled me to connect to the internet and keep the computer running properly. Although I have recently downloaded a wireless network adapter and ethernet controller -- enabling me to connect to the internet -- I still cannot seem to use my Virtual Private Network (which is necessary, as I am studying abroad in China and must be able to use a VPN to access most Western websites blocked by the Chinese government).
There are still two drivers that I have been unable to find and install: a PCI Simple Communications Controller and a SM Bus Controller. I am wondering, does not having these affect my ability to connect to a VPN?
Also, as I am using an uncracked bootleg copy of Windows 7 Ultimate, I cannot use Windows Update to fix the problem. I am wondering if I should therefore download a legal copy of Windows 7 and go from there or could I fix the VPN and driver issue without using Windows Update?