The only software that I’m aware of that should affect the Connect is the Sansa Connect Recovery Tool, which will wipe your player and install the latest firmware. I’m not sure about the others you mention.
In any case, if you have WMP 10 or later installed, your system should recognize your Connect. You don’t need anything else. Possibly something you’ve done has interfered with MTP support on your system.
What OS are you using? I don’t have Vista, but with XP, you can do a System Restore to the point before your system stopped recognizing your Connect.
