How do I get them on the bottom again?

My computer crashed the other day and went into a loop.I couldn't set it at an earlier date to break out of it .So I re-booted te pc from the disc I made when I got the pc .now I have done this a few times and was able to re-programme everything.But this time I think a virus corrupted the bios.and I couldn't get some of the small icons at the bottom near the clock.one being the small tv set that tells me my internet connections .plus when I re-programmed the radio dongle ,that pick up the signals from the sky remote radio box .There is no small tv set icon .even though the computer told me the dongle (belkin surf and share) was re-set and working .I even went out and bought a new stronger dongle .but with the same results .I have a Hewlett Packard pc with windows xp.Does anyone know where I'm going wrong and give me help in fixing the problem.