all windows appear maximized

[the benz]

whenever i launch a program in win XP (sp1) it will launch
only as a maximized window. this is a new phenomena that
is causing me much grief right now. when i try to resize
a window (to allow multiple windows to show) then the
window will automatically minimize to the task bar. this
is happening with all applications now (photoshop, IE6,
Outlook, etc, etc.), but started a few weeks ago with new
e-mail messages in outlook express.
i tried to run spybot and adaware but they found nothing.
likewise for my anti-virus.

anyone got any ideas as to what may be causing this?

p4 2.0 GHz
Win XP SP 1
1024 MB DDR

 

[the benz]

a bit more about this problem:
often, when this occurs windows will be sized to fill the
entire screen, covering even the task bar.
when i click the re-size button (middle button on top
right of window) the window will minimize to the task
bar.
this kind of behavior is very reminiscent of some nasty
pop-ups that i have encountered. although i have run PC-
Cillin, AdAware, Spy Bot and WinPatrol to try to determine
what might be causing this i have yet to find anything.
this bug is affecting many different programs, but not
always consistently. for example, i launched IE6 and was
able to resize windows just fine, however after closing
that window and launching another IE window the bug came
back and i couldn't resize.

has anyone else experienced something like this?
this is driving me NUTS!

 

[Shawn]

I recently encountered this problem, but with only one particular
application. It turned out it had somehow been moved off the viewable
screen. Try right-clicking on the taskbar and choosing Cascade
Windows. Alternatively, you could right-click on one application on
the taskbar, select Move, and then use the arrow keys to try and move
the window back onto the screen.

Since its happening with all application, it would be strange if that
was this was the cause, but its worth a shot.

Shawn