Question

And by this question I mean the user assigned names windows lets you type in like: “My home network” “Basement” “Garage” not the ssid (though I would also like to read that one for the wifi connections)

and I especially want to read the windows security levels that can be chosen for networks: Home/Office/Public

I want to use this information to switch programs on and off automatically when connecting to various networks.

Update:
Thanks to the answer of @Damien_The_Unbeliever I was able to solve my question and find the following information, I hope it will help others too:

• Network awareness in windows 7 and vista (MSDN, Unmanaged)
• Windows API Code Pack (Microsoft, managed wrapper for
  NetworkListManager and others)
• How to use the windows NLM API to get notified of new network
  connectivity (Codeproject, Managed)

Answer 1

It sounds like you want to use the Network List Manager:

The Microsoft Windows networking environment allows multihomed computers to connect to several networks simultaneously. There may be multiple wireless networks available along with LAN and dial-up connections. Network List Manager identifies available networks and returns network attribute data to the application.

It’s a COM API, I’m not aware of a managed equivalent.