Vista 64 freezes after login due to network connection?

Hello there, i have so many issues with Vista these days.

Currently, if Vista makes it past the boot screen which it frequently likes to just hang on indefinitely (year old problem), then it encounters a new issue that has been plaguing me for about two weeks now. It'll log in and load up until it displays the network icon in the task bar, this'll have a red 'X' in it, this seems to cause the system to hang if i do anything while that red X is there. Some times after a few minutes the X will disappear and i can then go about business as normal and connect to the internet. However, most often, it will stay red, and if i attempt to do anything, it'll all just lock up, and the windows cursor will have a 'loading' animation. The only solution is a hard reset. This problem started spontaneously.

Event viewer doesn't really give anything away either, i could use some outside opinions.

Thank you :]

Also wouldn't hurt to check for updated NIC drivers.