Weird Problem -- Dropdown boxes not drawing

[HerbAndEdnaWeinstein]

Hi, one of our computers is doing something strange, and the IS guy is stumped.

The dropdowns, for instance when you click on "File" or "Edit" on the top of any application window, are not drawing until you mouse over them.

Here's an example: user clicks on "Edit" and nothing happens. Each individual entry for Edit (Cut, Copy, Paste, etc...) only appear when the mouse passes directly over their location.

The problem persists after reboot.

The machine has all the most recent Windows Updates, and it is virus-free. I just ran SpyBot on it and removed several pieces of spyware. I noticed that one of those (&*^% "FREE Christmas Multimedia Things!" was installed on the machine as well, and its installation roughly coincides with the time that this problem began.

Any Ideas?
Thanks in advance,
Herb

 

[bcastner]

1. A guess.

Control Panel, Add/Remove Programs and look for:
Internet Explorer Q824145

Remove it.
Reboot.

See if the issue goes away.

As this is an important IE security patch you likely are better off restoring Q824145 by going to Windows Update. But if my guess is right, you now know why the behavior occurs. Expect a patch soon.

2. Spybot is good, but did you update the definition files prior to the scan?

Download and run in this order:

cwshredder *
SpyBot 1.2 *
AdAware *

* = Update the definition files within the program as the first step.

http://www.spywareinfo.com/downloads.php?cat=sp#det

Stop after each, reboot, and see if the issue is resolved.