I am starting to think I simply need to accept a small loss and sell my new ASUS K73E. Because I really don't enjoy computing when I have to deal with Windough$ and this windows 7 64 bit on my new ASUS is even worse than the old machines with XP.
I have written to ASUS and they simply say "We don't support Linux" and while Ralink's website says they do support Linux I can't get anyone to tell me what model Ralink card might be in my machine. 
Is anyone out there who might be able to give me some useful advice????
Here is the answer to command lspci nn && lsusb && lsmod && rfkill list all:
di,snd_seq
snd                    54244  16 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
uvcvideo               57374  0 
videodev               34361  1 uvcvideo
v4l1_compat            13251  2 uvcvideo,videodev
soundcore               6620  1 snd
snd_page_alloc          7076  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
psmouse                63677  0 
serio_raw               3978  0 
lp                      7028  0 
parport                32635  2 ppdev,lp
fbcon                  35102  71 
tileblit                1999  1 fbcon
font                    7557  1 fbcon
bitblit                 4707  1 fbcon
softcursor              1189  1 bitblit
video                  17375  0 
output                  1871  1 video
vga16fb                11385  1 
vgastate                8961  1 vga16fb
ahci                   32360  2 
di,snd_seq
snd                    54244  16 snd_hda_codec_realtek,snd_hda_intel,snd_hda_codec,snd_hwdep,snd_pcm_oss,snd_mixer_oss,snd_pcm,snd_seq_oss,snd_rawmidi,snd_seq,snd_timer,snd_seq_device
uvcvideo               57374  0 
videodev               34361  1 uvcvideo
v4l1_compat            13251  2 uvcvideo,videodev
soundcore               6620  1 snd
snd_page_alloc          7076  2 snd_hda_intel,snd_pcm
psmouse                63677  0 
serio_raw               3978  0 
lp                      7028  0 
parport                32635  2 ppdev,lp
fbcon                  35102  71 
tileblit                1999  1 fbcon
font                    7557  1 fbcon
bitblit                 4707  1 fbcon
softcursor              1189  1 bitblit
video                  17375  0 
output                  1871  1 video
vga16fb                11385  1 
vgastate                8961  1 vga16fb
ahci                   32360  2 
Edit #2
lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation Device 0104 (rev 09)
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Device 0116 (rev 09)
00:16.0 Communication controller: Intel Corporation Cougar Point HECI Controller #1 (rev 04)
00:1a.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation Cougar Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #2 (rev 05)
00:1b.0 Audio device: Intel Corporation Cougar Point High Definition Audio Controller (rev 05)
00:1c.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Cougar Point PCI Express Root Port 1 (rev b5)
00:1c.1 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Cougar Point PCI Express Root Port 2 (rev b5)
00:1c.5 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation Cougar Point PCI Express Root Port 6 (rev b5)
00:1d.0 USB Controller: Intel Corporation Cougar Point USB Enhanced Host Controller #1 (rev 05)
00:1f.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation Device 1c49 (rev 05)
00:1f.2 SATA controller: Intel Corporation Cougar Point 6 port SATA AHCI Controller (rev 05)
00:1f.3 SMBus: Intel Corporation Cougar Point SMBus Controller (rev 05)
02:00.0 Network controller: RaLink Device 5390
03:00.0 Ethernet controller: Atheros Communications Device 1083 (rev c0)
lsusb
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 8087:0024  
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 13d3:5710 IMC Networks 
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 8087:0024  
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Thanks for the suggestion because this gave me a model for Ralink RT5390. I have now gone to Ralink.com and downloaded (via Windows 7) the driver package (it is a bz2 file). I hope I can figure out how to install it. And FYI - I was not able to run su (not authorized?) and dmidecode didn't exist (probably needs to be downloaded BUT no internet yet in Ubuntu)