Latest updates messed with Notification Area

[Questor]

I have three Vista machines (2 desktop and 1 laptop) and after the
latest MS updates (probably the C++ one) my network icon in the
notification area is gone. I appear to be connected (because I am
here), but any attempt to make the icon re-appear appears futile.

These are all Vista Home Premium SP1 boxes and, yes, I have gone to the
Properties of the taskbar. The Clock & Power are able to be
checked/unchecked but Network & Volume are now greyed out.

Any clues here?

Questor

 

[Grand_Poobah]

--->

I have three Vista machines (2 desktop and 1 laptop) and after the
latest MS updates (probably the C++ one) my network icon in the
notification area is gone. I appear to be connected (because I am
here), but any attempt to make the icon re-appear appears futile.

These are all Vista Home Premium SP1 boxes and, yes, I have gone to the
Properties of the taskbar. The Clock & Power are able to be
checked/unchecked but Network & Volume are now greyed out.

Any clues here?

Questor

OK. Solved. For whatever reason, I had to disable the network card (or
the wireless device), reboot, and re-enable it. After I had done that I
was able to check/uncheck Network in the Notification Area properties
again. Nothing else worked. It appears that the C++ runtime update was
the culprit because I uninstalled the update on one of my machines and
the network icon came back right away. When I re-downloaded and
installed the update it disappeared again. Go figure.

Questor