Hello sdrochek,
This sounds like quite a strange problem you are having with your application builder. Because you are using projects, we can tell that you are in LabVIEW 8.x. Which version is that that you are actually using? Also which development system are you using (Full, Professional, etc)? If you are using the Professional version, is it correctly activated in the License Manager? If not Professional, then do you have the Application Builder installed correctly?
Assuming you should have the capabilities to build applications and installers, I have a few more questions that may help to find a solution:
1) Have you ever been able to successfully build installers on this machine? If so, can you recall any system changes since this worked successfully?
2) If you start a new VI and build an exe then create an installer from this exe, are you successful? This will tell us whether the issue is specific to the application you've been building.
3) You mentioned that the icon is placed under the "Builds" section in your project, but that you cannot do anything with it. What happens when you double-click this build to access its properties? Does LabVIEW give an error message or just hang? Do you have to restart LabVIEW at all, or is it as if you never selected the build at all?
4) Have you noticed any strange behavior when building executables? Do these executables run correctly?
5) Have you tried a reinstallation of the software?