Can't get system tray network icon back

[Slickone]

Something fell on my keyboard and pressed a key(s) for several hours. The computer is slow, so it took a long time to finally get it to respond, and after rebooting, my network icon is gone. In the turn icons on and off section, the pull down menu for network is greyed out. I do have a network connection. Windows 7 Home Premium.

I tried resetting the notification area icons cache. Closed/reopened Explorer. Rebooted.
Notification Area Icons - Reset - Windows 7 Help Forums

then:

System Icons - Enable or Disable - Windows 7 Help Forums
As far as option #1 of this guide, I don't have "Remove the networking icon" listed under Star Menu and Taskbar in GP Editor. Why is that ?I do have "Prohibit viewing of status for an active connection" under Network Connections. Would that do anything?
I also merged the reg file from #2 (and rebooted).

Network icon missing from system tray - Page 3 - Windows 7 Help Forums
I don't have HideSCANetwork in my registry.

Any ideas?

Also, I can't open the clock. This has happened in the past though, and I fixed it somehow. Haven't had time to research it again.

 

[Snick]

Hi Slickone,
A thought:
In system tray, click ^, does Network Icon display in popup? If so, drag it to the taskbar!
If that's not an option, here's a Microsoft article:
Network Icon missing in system tray

If you decide to try the Registry tweak, backup your registry first:
How to Backup and Restore the Windows Registry

 

[Slickone]

I wish! Unfortunately the icon is completely gone.

And I've already done the registry hacks linked from my post above.