Weirdest problem ever. Only flat grey buttons!

[cheti12]

Hey everyone,

My XP sp2 has decided to screw me over. It was running fine until afew days ago. Now everytime i open most programs, in the place of the buttons where you normally see things like 'ok' 'next', 'cancel' and so on, i only see flat grey buttons with nothign on them. The buttons work but i obviously have no clue what im clicking on. also, when i right click on desktop and try to access properties, nothing shows up.

And when i type anything in notepad, the cursor moves ahead but no text appears. i can copy paste the text out into other places where it shows up but it doesnt in notepad.

the third issue is with ie6. it only loads part of the webpage. oftentimes just the top banner and nothing else. The same websites work just fine with firefox.

I have the last graphics drivers, i use avg free edition for antivirus and everything else is pretty much updated.


this thing has me stumped. Havent ever seen it and i help troubleshoot computers regularly for friends and family. But my amateur skills have run out and i need some expert guidance. Anyone?

 

[schusterjo]

Ad-Aware SE Personal
I run this daily

SpywareBlaster 3.5.1
I update once a week (keeps bad pages with known malware that cold cause damage from being displayed.)

Spybot - Search & Destroy
Daily or every other day

CwShredder
This is one I only use once a week or month lol but good to have

AVG Anti-Spyware
daily

CCleaner
weekly

A list of bad spyware programs
Rogue/Suspect Anti-Spyware Products & Web Sites

Download and update (update is very important before you scan) boot into safe mode (You do not need to boot into safe mode every time to run programs. Some malware cannot be fully removed or detected unless you are in Safemode, This is why I recommend running it the first time in safe mode then perhaps once a month in safe mode)

With some computers if you press and hold a key as the computer is booting you will get a stuck key message. If this occurs, instead of pressing and holding the "F8 key", tap the "F8 key" continuously until you get the startup menu.

Scan the computer,

1. From the Windows Start menu, go to Turn off computer and click Restart.
2. As the computer restarts, watch for a progress bar at the bottom of the screen. press F8 about once every second.
3. Immediately press F8 before the progress bar reaches the right side of the screen.
4. From the Windows Start-up menu, highlight Safe Mode and press Enter.
5. Wait for your desktop to appear, and then make the necessary repairs (for example, install programs or devices).
6. When the repairs are done, restart the computer, and allow it to boot normally.

Alternate:

1. From the Windows Start menu, click Run.
2. In the Open field, type MSCONFIG and click Ok.
3. On the BOOT.INI tab, check /SAFEBOOT.
4. Click Restart when prompted.
(if you use this option make sure you change the boot back to normal after finished)

Boot backup into Normal mode, download
CodeStuff Starter manage your startup programs

Disable all startup programs that you "do not" need running at startup.
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After that I recommend downloading
HijackThis Quick Start
(by the flashing green light download link)
run that then post it here or in security)
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Just some extra things here.

A guide to hep keep a smooth system.
Maintain your system with Windows XP

Diskeeper
The best program to use for defragging