My computer is displaying Web sites, etc. funny!

[Linda Z]

I'll explain the symptoms, and then I'll try to explain what might have caused this screw-up and what I've already tried in an effort to fix it. I'm running Windows XP and I'm using MS Office Home and Student 2007.

Symptoms: When I view Web sites that I've been on a gazillion times, they don't look right and they don't "act" right.

For example, GS forums used to have a nice beige background on my monitor. Now the background is white. And now, when I'm writing a post here, if I click on the icon to change colors, the pop-up that comes up has empty boxes instead of the color choices.

When I log onto a Web site that I'm supposed to be helping to maintain and edit for work, some of the fonts look screwy. For example, headlines for an article that should be bold and larger than the regular text are small and not bold, and some text (in photo captions, for example) has become supersized.

How I got in this mess:

The problem is, I'm not sure how this happened. Here's what I think happened.

About a month ago, I was having trouble viewing something on the Web site of the journal I work on. My boss said, "Oh, it's because you don't have the latest version of Internet Explorer. Download that." She's pretty computer savvy, so I upgraded to the newest version of IE. Initially, that seemed okay.

Then a few days later, I tried to open a JPG in MS Paint (it's a quick way to check image size and resolution on photos that come with the manuscripts I get), it wouldn't open them....said they weren't .bitmap files. (I don't know whether this had anything to do with the recent download of IE or if it was always like this and I'd just never before tried to open a JPG on this computer--I can't remember. ) Anyway, I open JPGs in paint all the time on my office computer, so I knew it was possible.

I searched some techy/troubleshooting sites and one of them said to go into Add/Remove Programs and reconfigure something in MS Office 2007. I coudln't find the exact button or checkbox the instructions said to click next, because there were only two options, CChange" and "Remove." I thought if I clicked on "Change" it would bring up a menu that would contain the item the instructions said to change. (Probably a bad move.)

Clicking on "Change" just opened a "progress" window and it starting filling, as if I was downloading or installing something. I figured that wasn't good so I closed the window, thinking that would stop whatever process I had started. Ever since that time, my display has been altered.

What I've tried:

I tried "System Restore" in Windows, hoping that I could reset everything back to how it was before I flugged it up. I found the date when I fiddled with Add/Remove MS Offcie and figured any date before that would be good. I picked a date. I hit "Next." A System Restore progress window opened. My computer rebooted. When it came back up I got this message: "Your system cannot be restored to that date." Of course it doesn't say why! I tried about a dozen dates. Nada. I read online that "System Restore is a failed experiment" and discovered many people who sound more computer savvy than I am couldn't make it work.

Next, I ran "Microsoft Office Diagnostics" and it said everything was peachy. I reinstalled MS Office for good measure. Again, nada.

I'm at my wits end. I can't edit my work Web site when I can't even see it properly, and I need to post some items there. I work at home 2 or 3 days a week, so this puts me in a real jam.

Does anyone who has had the patience (of Job) to read this far have any suggestions?

[oldiesman]

Linda, this may not be your problem but what I do first is check for viruses or spyware or trojans. Several weeks ago, I had a few of these that couldn't be removed by my regular protection package. It was causing wierd pop-ups and slow internet, something not working right so I called this place called IYogi, they are an outfit in India that with your permission take over your computer and fix whatever is wrong. Guaranteed to fix it or you don't pay. They charge $120 per year, and they recommended a sensational security software called superantispyware:

http://www.superantispyware.com/

It got rid of all the crap inside my computer and now its quiet as a baby. Don't know if this will fix your particular problem, but at least it would eliminate the spyware malware problem. Try it for 30 days for free, free download. $30.00 to buy. If you don't like it don't buy it. But it works!

[pawtucket]

Did you change some Internet Options? On Firefox, there is a setting for "page style" that will strip out formatting and background images if you turn it off. IE doesn't have a direct equivalent If you turned on any of the "accessibility" options that could screw up the viewing.

[anotherDan]

Linda, in IE, under "tools" in the toolbar, go to Internet Settings, then the Advanced tab, and click Restore Advanced Settings. See if that helps.

Maybe try downloading and installing Firefox or Flock... very similar to Explorer. See if your websites look OK in them.

Sorry about your tribulations... I feel for you!

[WordWolf]

Linda, in IE, under "tools" in the toolbar, go to Internet Settings, then the Advanced tab, and click Restore Advanced Settings. See if that helps.

Maybe try downloading and installing Firefox or Flock... very similar to Explorer. See if your websites look OK in them.

Sorry about your tribulations... I feel for you!

First of all, I think Paw and Dan's advice have the correct information and solution in them.

Second of all, I agree with Dan-if you look at the same page under Firefox and there's no problem,

it's OBVIOUSLY in your IE settings that the problem lies.

Third of all, it never hurts to have good programs clean out the pc. I forget if you have the usual

programs, but I always recommend, besides a firewall and antivirus (you can get good, free ones

of both and I'm sure you have one of each), there's

SpywareBlaster

Spybot:Search and Destroy

AdAware.

There's also decent Registry cleaners like Clean My Registry.

I'm sure you already downloaded all the updates to Windows that are security-related, when they

were released or soon after that.

Edited August 2, 2008 by WordWolf

[Linda Z]

Thanks to everyone who offered help. Paw and Dan nailed it. It was an IE accessibility thing. I'm all better now!