You changed the topic?

"Not being able to see icons for "Microsoft Networks" & "Entire Network" indicate a problem with the OS."

I agree and there are discussions about that. I read your first post and I can't see where you shared this issue.

So the good news is that issue is discussed. Let's find one.
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/953791

Remember this is only one of the dozen issues today with this. And I hope I can help but somehow I missed that the control panel was blank. That would have changed my reply.
Bob