Winsock 2.0 error

My Dell desk top with xp pro has been working fine for over a year. I shut it down and when I started it back up I get the error that winsock 2.0 isn’t installed and it won’t load the IP. I obviously have access to another computer. This doesn’t seem like you just down load winsock 2.0 and install it or is it? Thanks in advance for any help.
Steve