Windows 7: Extremely odd problem, cant even open "connect to a network" window

early last week, I had a weird problem come up where something (still dont know what) wiped out all of my buttons in the lower right of my taskbar. At first I thought that I could just work around it with rainmeter, but now I found a problem that might be tied into the icons missing.



I can't open the "connect to a network" window, when I go to the link in the network and sharing center it doesn't do anything (same with every other link directing me to the window). This normally wouldnt be a problem, but I'm a college student and need to switch networks a few times a day.

Does anyone have any ideas? (I already tried replacing the .dlls, changing the registry associated with those icons, and a few other things {theres a guide somewhere, and I did every step in the guide}). please, this i'm getting desperate

My father is borrowing my laptop until tomorrow night, so I wont be able to come back here until then, thanks guys

First of all, get some AV scanning.

Second, try to reinstall the program or driver for your network card.