It's XP home so I'm not logged on as admin, and no one else uses this pc. When I right click properties on my network places it opens the network connections window, which as I have already said shows no network connections.

In a somewhat related issue (i.e. it started happening at the same time) whenever I try to open an explorer window or use an open or save dialog box that defaults to the 'My Computer' location, it can't display anything. It just does the little animated flashlight icon.

I think it's getting time to reformat and start over. I'll get around to backing up my data at some point and then I'll worry about that.

Gotta love Windows, goes to shit on itself after about a year despite your best efforts otherwise. Why does this always happen?