Ubuntu finding wireless networks

Kind of long, sorry, just hang with me...or just read after the smiley. So I downloaded Ubuntu a few days ago with a dual boot to Vista, and I gotta say I love it. It's taken a little bit to get use to but I'm think I'm starting to get the hang of it. Ran into a little problem though. There was an icon at the top near the clock that handled the wireless connections where you could choose available networks and edit their settings. Well during the process of me changing a bunch of settings, I accidentally deleted that icon instead of another one next to it and I can't get it back. I can't seem to find that wireless network icon to re-add it back up there nor can I find wireless network settings in the systems tab. I found network stuff but nothing that allows you to choose what wireless network I want. I got my "home" wireless network & password saved before I deleted the icon so I'm fine in my dorm room but I didn't get the wireless network that broadcasts all over campus therefore I don't have internet anywhere outside my room, forcing me to use Vista pretty much all the time. So my question is, is there anyway to access the wireless network properties so I can find available networks, add their password, and save to my favorites? I don't really need the icon again, I'll take a path through the system tab or a command in the terminal as well. Hope that's clear enough, thanks a bunch.

 

System > Preferences > Sessions

Make sure 'Network Manager' is checked

If it's not there, you can create a new entry that runs 'nm-applet --sm-disable' without the quotes. The name and description don't matter, but they're 'Network Manager' and 'Network Manager applet' respectively.

You shouldn't be able to delete the icon from the notification area, you have to kill it manually (in which case it will still load on future boots), or disable it in the Session Manager that I stepped you through. If you didn't do that, you have some other problem.

Oh, and you should still be able to setup new connections with

System > Preferences > Network Connections

But I don't know if it will connect without the NM Applet loading...

Oh! I know what you did! (but I'll leave everything else I wrote, just in case)
You deleted the notification area entirely! Right click on the top panel in an empty spot somewhere, and choose 'add to panel'. Either select and add 'notification area' or just drag it to the spot you want it to be. If you have trouble getting it placed where you want, note that when you right click any object you have a 'lock to panel' option. Also note that you have to right click just left of the leftmost notification icon to choose the notification area (on some GTK themes this is visible as three dots or a line, or something similar). Sometimes a separate applet like the volume control looks like it's part of the notification area, but is not, that was probably adding to your confusion.

 

Ok I'll try that a little bit later on (working on Vista right now ). I was just going down that list of "Add to Panel" programs seeing what they do, tried to delete one similar to it (I think it was some other network one) but accidentally deleted the wireless one. Tried to find it in that "add to panel" list but I couldn't find it. I'll try what you recommended though. Thanks.

 

from what i am reading, does most linux distros fully support intel wireless cards? i got the intel 2200 card handy, but my dell inspiron 1525 has the dell 1395 which i think is the broadcom, which i am also not able to get working. however i have put in a external belkin usb wireless adapter and i can detect the wireless router at my house, with a strong signal but when i click to connect it just tries for a few minutes and wont ever connect???

 

Thanks a bunch Ethyriel, it was the notification area icon I was missing and I couldn't find it in the list because I assumed it'd have "network" or "wireless" in its name. Back to normal now, thanks!