Vista - Acess Denied?

I am running Vista Home Premium 32-bit and everything was going great until I installed AIM and MSN Messenger last night...now, the connection icon on the lower-right hand side of the screen shows a red x through it...even when I am connected...when I attempt to check out my "Network and Connection" window which shows my different connections...I get the message "access denied" with no usual picture showing my PC then my router then the Internet with the green line showing connection...i've searched around a bit and seen others with this problem...but no real solution...heard something regarding installing AIM with UAC turned on, because I turned it off first thing....anyone else had this problem and found a genuine solution? Thanks!