System Tray Icon for Internet Connection missing?

Right click on My Network Places, select Properties; right click on your Internet Connection, select Properties.  There is a box there which selects that option.  If it is already checked, uncheck it, press OK.  Close everything.  Redo the steps and then check it, and press OK.  In some instances it is necessary to re-boot  between the unchecking and the checking (once I had to do it twice, both after unchecking the box, and then after checking it again).

Try right click on the taskbar, click properties. If hide inactive items is unchecked, check it to activate the customize button. Then click customize and see if your icon is listed. If so, highligjt it and in the dropdown boix select always show. Click OK, then uncheck hide inactive icons, click apply, click OK. That usually resets things.

I'm going to need a bit more help ...

I cannot find "My Network Places" on my desktop, so I assume you mean to look under Control Panel.  I can select Control Panel/Network and Internet Connections, and I do see it listed under the left side of the screen, but I cannot right click. I can select it, then right click when the folder is open.  I can find Properties, but my internet connection is not listed as a network connection. 

Am I wrong in assuming that my "internet connection" and my "network connections" are two different things? 

When I click on IE, or Outlook, I get my internet connection dialer, and it works just fine, but I don't see it listed under Network Connections.  Is this part of the problem? In completing the Network Connections Wizard, I can list my internet connection, but when I try to connect using it, I get an error message saying the modem is already in use (duh!).... I cannot disconnect without shutting off my computer, even when I select "work offline." 

Even though I can create a new network connection, it doesn't seem to create an icon in the system tray, but perhaps that's because I haven't used it to connect yet.  Can you give me any further advice?

-Crystori

Try changing from the Teletubby look to Windows Classic and see if Network Places appears on your desktop.  ( right click an empty area on the desktop and select properties . . under Themes, select Windows Classic.

wrs

Whether you go from the desktop (or Windows Explorer) and right click on my network places, click properties or whether you go Control panel, network connections applet, you should see the same thing: a window called network connections that lists available connections.

In my case, they are subdivided into 'dial up connections' (which are my two modems: one internal fax modem, the other my USB DSL modem which is the one I use to connect to the internet), 'LAN or high speed internet', of which I also have two, the 1394 firewire connection which is part of my Audigy 2 sound card and the internal NIC, neither of which I use; at the bottom is the new connection wizard and the network setup wizard. The new connection wizard is used to set up connections to the internet, the network set up wizard is used to set up a local network.

Depending on your setup you may have these or similar ones. You should be able to recognise which one is the connection you use to connect to the internet, its name will be what you gave it when you set up your internet connection.