network help

hey i just wiped out the hard drive to my dell inspiron 5100 laptop.  i reinstalled the the os system and the microsoft office. what else do i need to do to get it up and runing. i went under the device manger and everything seemed to be there but the usb ports all had (!) on them. i cant connect to the inernet wirelessly or when i plug it directly in to the net. what am i doing wrong. i use to be good at setting up a home network but i lost some of my touch:emotion-6:. what am i doing wrong