Delete the preference folder, It will be in your Documents\Maya\ version number. Delete it and restart Maya. It will ask to choose, default pref or existing pref. Choose Default. Hope that solves your problem
It seems that you are extruding the wrong component. Instead of extruding the edge or face of the plane model, you are extruding vertices.
As a general rule, to avoid any unexpected results during extrusion, first select the model and use the "Delete History" command before using the Extrude.