To continue the convo :-
I still have not been able to sort my laptop out since this original problem occurred. I have been in touch with Protonvpn help and also tech dept of Jeff.pro help , & done all that has been suggested but it hasn’t made any difference. Its not rectified any/ all the problems , loss of icons at top right of screen, thunderbird email programme lost all my addresses, plus loss of icons elsewhere, not able to access file cabinet properly or my folders , the list is endless and I am going cross eyed with studying how to resolve this . any suggestions/ knowledge etc.
I think you had commented on my thread and mentioned this awhile back:
Did Proton tell you to upgrade to Ubuntu 22.04? That’s what they told me, they made changes to their software and it seems to cause issues when used with 20.04.
Not knowing much about your situation other than what you have stated, I might suggest making sure you have as much data backup as possible, document your apps you’re using (for reinstall), and generally get prepared to do a new install of Ubuntu, and in the process wipe the hard drive. As I say, make sure you’re prepared to do this first. But it sounds like your current setup is ‘hosed’ beyond repair.
You should just need a USB drive with the Ubuntu .iso install file (has to be encoded to the drive by Rufus or Balena Etcher software), and then do a new install choosing the option to wipe the drive (erase partitions) and install Ubuntu. To use Proton VPN again, you’ll either have to install Ubuntu 20.04 and then upgrade the system to Ubuntu 22.04 (like I did), or just get the Ubuntu 22.04 .iso file and go directly to that for your install. It might save some time. 
I never had the weird problems that you have had; my Proton VPN just quit working. The upgrade to Ubuntu 22.04 and then reinstalling Proton VPN worked like a charm, and so far all is good.
I had the same problem. start using Electonmail for my protonmail accounts.
NO need to use bridge.
haven’t found the solution for the proton vpn…