Windows pull down menus are blank?

S

Simon_Shorts

I am using Windows XP home edition and recently my pull down menus on Windows
applications are blank/empty. No text shows up at all. This makes it very
difficult to use many windows applications especially internet explorer.
Please help if you know how to fix this. Many thanks.
 
E

Elmo

Simon_Shorts said:
I am using Windows XP home edition and recently my pull down menus on Windows
applications are blank/empty. No text shows up at all. This makes it very
difficult to use many Windows applications especially Internet Explorer.
Please help if you know how to fix this. Many thanks.

Maybe one of these:

Several dialog boxes are blank
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/831430

Transparent drop-down Menu and disappearing menu text
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/transmenu.htm
 
E

Elmo

Simon_Shorts said:
I tried using the help on both links, but it didn't work. I reregistered
the Jscript.dll file and I edited the appropriate registry key data, but I
still have the blank/empty pull down menu boxes.

Could you be infected with malware? That could probably cause jscript
errors, or otherwise affect the windows.. Try running these:

Malwarebytes© Corporation
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam/program/mbam-setup.exe

SuperAntispyware
http://www.superantispyware.com/superantispywarefreevspro.html

Also try changing your Windows theme, then changing back. Save your
current theme so you can get back where you prefer.
 
S

Simon_Shorts

Elmo said:
Could you be infected with malware? That could probably cause jscript
errors, or otherwise affect the windows.. Try running these:

Malwarebytes© Corporation
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam/program/mbam-setup.exe

SuperAntispyware
http://www.superantispyware.com/superantispywarefreevspro.html

Also try changing your Windows theme, then changing back. Save your
current theme so you can get back where you prefer.

Ran both Malwarebytes and Supterantispyware and I still have the blank/empty
pull down menu problems. I did have some infected files that were discovered
by both programs, but even after having them quarantined and removed, the
problem still exists.
 
S

Simon_Shorts

I forgot to mention that the problem seems to now be limited to certain
windows applications and most specifically to Internet Explorer.
 
E

Elmo

Simon_Shorts said:
I forgot to mention that the problem seems to now be limited to certain
Windows applications and most specifically to Internet Explorer.

Try running IE in its Safe Mode (No Add-Ons mode). If you have that
option, it'll be in Start Menu, System Tools folder. If that lets you
see menus, try disabling ActiveX and Plug-ins till you find the culprit.
 
S

Simon_Shorts

Elmo said:
Try running IE in its Safe Mode (No Add-Ons mode). If you have that
option, it'll be in Start Menu, System Tools folder. If that lets you
see menus, try disabling ActiveX and Plug-ins till you find the culprit.

I tried running in safe mode (No Add-Ons mode) and disabled each of the
add-ons, one at a time, to try and isolate the problem. After disabling each
of the add-ons and running internet explorer, I still have the problem, still
no text in the pull-down menus.
 
E

Elmo

Simon_Shorts said:
I tried running in safe mode (No Add-Ons mode) and disabled each of the
add-ons, one at a time, to try and isolate the problem. After disabling each
of the add-ons and running internet explorer, I still have the problem, still
no text in the pull-down menus.

It's doubtful this will help, but try lowering graphics hardware
acceleration slide. You can lower graphics hardware acceleration in
Display Properties, Settings tab, Advanced button, Troubleshooting tab.
If this does help, you probably need a different graphics card or drivers.

Do you have any desktop utilities that might've been messed up by a
Windows Update? If so, disable as a test, or remove. Reinstall after
the test.

Also try Safe Mode to see what happens.
 

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