Acer Aspire ES1-111M-C7DE Wi-Fi connectivity problems

Hello. I recently bought an Acer Aspire ES1-111M-C7DE which is running Windows 8.1, and I am having so many connectivity problems I hardly know where to start. Things worked fine for the first couple of weeks, and I know it's not my Wi-Fi because my Samsung tablet connects just fine. I'll describe the issues.

Sometimes, the computer will say that I'm connected to my Wi-Fi but when I try to browse the Internet using Chrome (Or IE - it doesn't seem to matter what browser I use) Chrome tells me I'm not connected to the interent, when my Aspire says that I am.

Sometimes, everything works fine for about five minutes, and then I get kicked off. Sometimes I can reconnect; other times I can't. If I do reconnect, it might work about 10-15 minutes before I get kicked off again.

Sometimes, when I'm connected, the computer somehow downgrades my connection to "Local Only - No Internet Access." I try to reconnect, or I reboot my computer, but it doesn't help for very long.

Sometimes, the computer won't even recognize that my Wi-Fi exists. It'll have a list of all the nearby networks displayed but mine, which is the closest, isn't on the list.

Sometimes when I try to connect, the computer will say that it couldn't connect to the network, but then I'm able to access the internet anyway.

Needless to say, all these issues have been very frustrating. I tried looking for solutions online, and tried some of them, but nothing works for long. Here's what I've already tried:

- Going to the networking option under wi-fi properties and unckecking everything except Internet Protocol Version 4
- updating Atheros drivers
- turning off power save mode

All of these suggestions were for an Acer Asipre, but not for the exact same model as mine.

I found another solution on these forums, which is to uninstall Atheros entirely, and then reboot, but I'm reticent to do that when I have only the dimmest understanding of what Atheros is. I don't want to lose internet connectivity entirely by uninstalling a program that appears to be necessary for getting online in the first place.

Bottom line, if anyone can help, it would be greatly appreciated. Unfortunately for me, this computer fits my needs exactly, and I don't want to have to take it back, but being unable to get online is obviously a deal breaker.

Thanks in advance for reading my novella here, haha.