weird gui and blue desktop background

I have searched all over the internet for a solution to this problem, but all the solutions I've found have not worked.

I installed ubuntu onto my laptop. Once it installed everything was working fine, I installed plex media server from the application downloader, and went to download something it else, and it said I didn't have permissions. Weird, but I figured it was something I had done wrong. So I figured I would mess with that later. I then noticed I could not open up anything at all. So I did the logical thing, I restarted my laptop.

This is when my problem started. My laptop now boots into a desktop with blue wallpaper, no icons and nothing on my favorites bar, and nothing I do working. I can still see text and stuff on the screen but nothing is actually working.

I would include what I have tried, but I am completely new to ubuntu and i have just been trying whatever I can find to get it working, and haven't really kept note.

computer specs are 4gb ram pretty sure ddr3, intel pentium processor, its a laptop I have had laying around for a bit. Hp notebook 15 to be exact.

and ubuntu version Ubuntu 20.04.2.0 LTS

It looks like you're missing your icons and maybe you switched themes after installing the plex server.

First, install gnome-tweaks by running the following commands:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install gnome-tweaks

Next, open the Gnome Tweaks application or run the command: gnome-tweaks

Then, under "appearance" try selecting some of the different themes for icons and others. I believe the default theme for Gnome Shell is Adwaita.

Also, it might be a good idea to make sure that the default Ubuntu desktop is still installed:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install --reinstall ubuntu-desktop^