OK, here's what happened. I was trying to open Firefox, and it apparently had uninstalled itself. So I tried to download it again, but it didn't work. So I tried to open Google chrome, but same story there. So I tried restarting my computer in the hopes that it would fix itself, but not only was it not fixed, IE had uninstalled itself too! How could this have happened? Does anyone know what could have caused all three of my browsers to apparently uninstall themselves?

I'm on my Droid right now, trying to figure out how to get my internet back.

EDIT: I somehow got onto IE again, but I had to click on the "search on the web" option when it told me that the file couldn't be found. It still gives me the same message when I try to open it with the shortcut on my desktop, start menu, and in the quicklaunch bar. I'm starting to get PO'd! And I still can't get on Chrome or FireFox.

I have no idea... but something similar happened to me, with Firefox, I had to uninstall it because it wasn't working properly and then when i tried reinstalling it, the installation always ended in two seconds and then said it was done, but Firefox totally didn't exist on my computer... not even the shortcuts had the icons on them... Ok... i guess it wasn't so similar after all...
sorry ^^;

Best guess (and gut instinct) is that you should check for viruses, like RIGHT NOW. Also check to see if any of your web browsers are blocked by anti-virus software/firewalls/other. Press CTRL+ALT+DELETE, write down the names of any executables (under "Processes") you can't identify and Google those too to see if they're viruses.

This is a pretty knee-jerk reaction, but under the circumstances I'd say it's fairly important that we cover that base.

OK, I managed to get FF and Chrome to work. I had to go into the files and find the applications and set them to be themselves, or something like that. Bottom line is I still don't know what happened, but I can use them now, and still none of the shortcuts work.

Thanks for the advice though Crawldragon. That's something I'll remember for the next time something happens.

Do your laptop's emergency shut-off. Windows will ask if you want to boot into safe mode. Select yes and, when in safe mode, scan with your antivirus.

Thanks, that sounds like it would be something that would work. I'm gonna try that in a few minutes.

Thanks Rasen, it worked. Now my computer's back to normal.

I have no idea why it happened. That didn't happen to me before.

Most likely viruses. If they keep multiplying, do a quick system reboot which will fix the problem.

um internet explorer cant uninstall itself....or your os wouldn't work.....scan your computer for malaware

OK, the problem was fixed later on the night that it happened. It's all better now.

im pretty good with computers but scripting, and various random codes for that matter, im clueless, needless to say i have never heard anything like that, strange.

Wow that seriously happened! That's crazy! Maybe it was something that got downloaded or something that was wrong with the companies.