So your brother’s in tech support, huh?
Assuming you NIC card is functioning properly you can’t delete the “Network Neighborhood” applet using any known windows one click command. It would take some serious work. If NN is truly gone (and not just hidden) my best guess is that there is a system binary damaged somewhere and you will have to format the disk and re-install Win98Se fresh to get it back.
Maybe the icon is hidden behind another? Did you try “Arrange Icons”? I know it sounds stupid, but I’ve seen it before.
Also, you should be prompted to Enter Network Password at boot if you have the microsoft client installed and set as the primary network logon. If you don’t “log in” to the microsoft network (IE: you click cancel) the network neighborhood icon does not appear. Just make up a username
and password at the prompt.
Finally, this is kind of a side note, but if you turn on drive sharing on your mom’s computer, which is also connected to the internet, make sure the TCP/IP protocol is NOT bound to the Client for Microsoft Networks. Or get yourself a firewall on your mom’s machine (www.sygate.com has a free one for personal use that is excellent).
I have W98 & SystemSuite 2000 has an option under WinCustomizer to display the Network Icon on the desktop for ya. You can even change it to another pretty icon.
Strange, people spend $1200 on a computer but won’t pay $50 for a maintenance program.