Black Menu and Favorites bar in IE8

  • Thread starter Thread starter craigmill@sky.com
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craigmill@sky.com

Guest
Hi, I have just updated my XP netbook to IE8 and discovered that the

Menu and Favorites bar are black - the drop down menus are there but

black on black.



After a bit of investigation I discovered that my display theme had

changed from Windows Classic to Windows Classic (modified). If I then

change it back to XP Classic I can see the Menu and Favorites bars

again for a few restarts the the black bars recurred.

I then tried using the Windows XP theme and that worked once but the

black menu and favorites bar appeared back again - when I checked my

display theme it was Window XP ( modified).



I appreciate that this may not be an IE problem but this is where the

problem is seen!



According to Google this is a wide spread problem but I cannot find a

solution - is there one?



Raymond
 
Hi Craig,



Explained here



http://iecustomizer.com/Resources/Articles/BlackToolbars.aspx



Regards.



wrote in message

news:61026020-41b9-44e1-8a65-8253ce4ee39b@q23g2000yqd.googlegroups.com...

> Hi, I have just updated my XP netbook to IE8 and discovered that the

> Menu and Favorites bar are black - the drop down menus are there but

> black on black.

>

> After a bit of investigation I discovered that my display theme had

> changed from Windows Classic to Windows Classic (modified). If I then

> change it back to XP Classic I can see the Menu and Favorites bars

> again for a few restarts the the black bars recurred.

> I then tried using the Windows XP theme and that worked once but the

> black menu and favorites bar appeared back again - when I checked my

> display theme it was Window XP ( modified).

>

> I appreciate that this may not be an IE problem but this is where the

> problem is seen!

>

> According to Google this is a wide spread problem but I cannot find a

> solution - is there one?

>

> Raymond

>
 
Now, /that/ is a keeper!



rob^_^ wrote:

> Hi Craig,

>

> Explained here

>

> http://iecustomizer.com/Resources/Articles/BlackToolbars.aspx

>

> Regards.

>

> wrote in message

> news:61026020-41b9-44e1-8a65-8253ce4ee39b@q23g2000yqd.googlegroups.com...

>> Hi, I have just updated my XP netbook to IE8 and discovered that the

>> Menu and Favorites bar are black - the drop down menus are there but

>> black on black.

>>

>> After a bit of investigation I discovered that my display theme had

>> changed from Windows Classic to Windows Classic (modified). If I then

>> change it back to XP Classic I can see the Menu and Favorites bars

>> again for a few restarts the the black bars recurred.

>> I then tried using the Windows XP theme and that worked once but the

>> black menu and favorites bar appeared back again - when I checked my

>> display theme it was Window XP ( modified).

>>

>> I appreciate that this may not be an IE problem but this is where the

>> problem is seen!

>>

>> According to Google this is a wide spread problem but I cannot find a

>> solution - is there one?

>>

>> Raymond
 
Rob - many thanks for your reply.



I had seen most of these scenarios but not the changes to the Advance

Appearance!



I have now used this with three boots without problem, but as many

have reported - black menus can recur after several days - so I will

give it a week or two and advise if it has been sucessful or not!



Again - many thanks!



Raymond
 
It will reoccur because of a third-party desktop themeing software (or one

of your custom Desktop Themes) is reapplying a defective theme each time the

computer is rebooted or the Desktop is Refreshed...



Startdoc's Windows Blinds or AlienGuise (may come pre-installed on some

Alienware computers). You need to disable these programs in either your

Windows Startup list or your Programs>Startup folder. to stop them loading

and running at windows startup time.



If you don't have any programs like these installed and the problem

re-occurs then it will be your current Custom Desktop theme.



Regards.



wrote in message

news:7c59cb32-5baf-415a-8215-82b5abb1524f@g4g2000yqa.googlegroups.com...

> Rob - many thanks for your reply.

>

> I had seen most of these scenarios but not the changes to the Advance

> Appearance!

>

> I have now used this with three boots without problem, but as many

> have reported - black menus can recur after several days - so I will

> give it a week or two and advise if it has been sucessful or not!

>

> Again - many thanks!

>

> Raymond
 
Hi, I got my netbook with a clean install of XP home complete with

IE6. I then selected Windows Classic theme. There are no 3rd party

themes or add-ons installed.

Everything was OK until I upgraded to IE8 along with a host of other

critical updates - thats when the black bar appeared.

As I advised in my previous posting I have changed the appearance per

your link and so far so good.

I just find it hard to understand why microsoft don't acknowledge the

problem and fix it!

If the appearance change does not last then I will move to another

browser.



Thanks again!



Raymond
 
To keep track of things, it helps immensely if you quote all of the previous

message(s) in your replies to the newsgroup. Thank you.



It came with WinXP/IE6 preinstalled or you did a clean install of WinXP?



What anti-virus application or security suite is installed and is your

subscription current? What anti-spyware applications (other than Defender)?

What third-party firewall (if any)? Were any of these applications running

in the background when you installed ___?



Has a(another) Norton or McAfee application ever been installed on the

computer (e.g., a free-trial version that came preinstalled when you bought

it)?

--

~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)

MS MVP-IE, Mail, Security, Windows Client - since 2002





craigmill@sky.com wrote:

> Hi, I got my netbook with a clean install of XP home complete with

> IE6. I then selected Windows Classic theme. There are no 3rd party

> themes or add-ons installed.

> Everything was OK until I upgraded to IE8 along with a host of other

> critical updates - thats when the black bar appeared.

> As I advised in my previous posting I have changed the appearance per

> your link and so far so good.

> I just find it hard to understand why microsoft don't acknowledge the

> problem and fix it!

> If the appearance change does not last then I will move to another

> browser.

>

> Thanks again!

>

> Raymond
 
Hi,



IE8 has a different GUI architecture (chrome) to previous versions. The flaw

as you can see from my article not only affects IE8. It is just at the time

the issue occurred you only saw it in IE8, hence, your brain made the

connection that it must be an IE8 flaw.



It has taken me nearly two years to track down the True reason. The Truth is

the issue has been around long before IE8 was released. The browser is

probably the most common program that users have running on their desktop.

Naturally everyone has assumed that it(IE8) was a cause. I invite those IE

bashers to eat humble pie. Nothing is perfect and I would not claim that IE8

is.



Now to move on to the tiny-fonts issue.. I think I have nailed that one too.

(I love a good problem to solve). It also has nothing to do with IE8 as a

cause.



Regards.



wrote in message

news:4dfa5cca-ef2f-48b3-ae10-37b001e6f5d1@c16g2000yqd.googlegroups.com...

> Hi, I got my netbook with a clean install of XP home complete with

> IE6. I then selected Windows Classic theme. There are no 3rd party

> themes or add-ons installed.

> Everything was OK until I upgraded to IE8 along with a host of other

> critical updates - thats when the black bar appeared.

> As I advised in my previous posting I have changed the appearance per

> your link and so far so good.

> I just find it hard to understand why microsoft don't acknowledge the

> problem and fix it!

> If the appearance change does not last then I will move to another

> browser.

>

> Thanks again!

>

> Raymond

>
 
Hi PA Bear, I have not appended previous messages because I felt it

would repeat messages that were already availble with a little

scrolling.



I received the net book with XP home and IE6 pre-installed. There were

a few other applications provided but not installed - Works, Office

2007 compatibility, Viewers, etc. - I deleted these.

I installed MSE and used the XP firewall. The only other application I

have installed is Office XP.



Once I was connected on line Microsoft advised of many "Critical"

updates. It was only after these updates (which included IE8) that the

black bar appeared.



I can see that there has been a lot of debate about where the root of

the problem lies. The only four things I know 1) It only affects IE8

on my pc. 2) It appears to be a result of corrupted themes. 3) When I

look at Google this problem was raised by many people a long time ago.

4) Microsoft do not acknowledge the problem and and have not provided

a solution.



I have changed the appearance of my theme per the info provided by

Rob. I have booted it about a dozen times today. So far so good!



Raymond
 
Spoke too soon - on my 15th boot of the day - black bars!



Dammmmmm!
 
The vast majority of us are not accessing this newsgroup via Google Groups

or

http://www.microsoft.com/communitie...?dg=microsoft.public.internetexplorer.general,

but in a newsreader (cf.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm) so we don't

have anything to scroll through. When posting via Google Groups, please

click on "Show quoted text" before replying to a post. Thank you.



So there was not an anti-virus or security suite free trial preinstalled on

the computer when you bought it?



How long was the computer connected to the internet before you got MSE

installed & updated (e.g., a few minutes; a few hours; a day or more)?



OT/NB: If Office XP is installed, you're going to need Office Compatibility

Pack (SP1/SP2) installed in order to open files created in Office 2007 &

higher. If you make Microsoft Update your default update source (assuming

you've not done so already), it and other Office updates should be offered

to your computer. See

http://blogs.technet.com/office_sus...hive/2009/07/14/july-2009-update-release.aspx



Office Update Center

http://www.microsoft.com/officeupdatecenter



PS: The vast majority of IE8 users are not seeing this "black toolbar"

behavior.

--

~PA Bear



craigmill@sky.com wrote:

> Hi PA Bear, I have not appended previous messages because I felt it

> would repeat messages that were already availble with a little

> scrolling.

>

> I received the net book with XP home and IE6 pre-installed. There were

> a few other applications provided but not installed - Works, Office

> 2007 compatibility, Viewers, etc. - I deleted these.

> I installed MSE and used the XP firewall. The only other application I

> have installed is Office XP.

>

> Once I was connected on line Microsoft advised of many "Critical"

> updates. It was only after these updates (which included IE8) that the

> black bar appeared.

>

> I can see that there has been a lot of debate about where the root of

> the problem lies. The only four things I know 1) It only affects IE8

> on my pc. 2) It appears to be a result of corrupted themes. 3) When I

> look at Google this problem was raised by many people a long time ago.

> 4) Microsoft do not acknowledge the problem and and have not provided

> a solution.

>

> I have changed the appearance of my theme per the info provided by

> Rob. I have booted it about a dozen times today. So far so good!

>

> Raymond
 
Hi Craig,



Start>Programs>Startup

Look for AlienGuise in your Startup Folder and either delete it or move it

to another folder.



Start>Run>msconfig - Startup tab (your Windows version may not have this

utility available)



Locate and disable any startup items from Stardock Systems, Startdock Corp,

Stardock

I have WindowsBlinds 6, Impulse Now and Startdock ObjectDoc



Save your changes and your will be asked to restart your computer.



or



Uninstall Windows Blinds, Alienguise (these are known to have issues with

Win7) from your machine. Stardoc does not recommend or support it for Win7.



Dell may also have installed some 'Branding' Software.. do they have Desktop

Themes? One of those may be faulty.



Look you don't have to have any of that software to get this issue.



Your themes from Dell or anybody else may have been created on an earlier

Windows version. Desktop themes are just ini files whose values are written

to the registry. Any missing values, say they specify a threeD background

color, but not a Menu Background color, are written to the registry as a

empty value.



Flawed software will read this registry value. An empty value may be

converted to the number 0, which a computer will interpret as meaning the

color black.



mmm. There could be something else in your windows startup list that does a

Desktop refresh... You could sort by Manufacturer and disable also anything

that does not come from Microsoft.



Why do you have to re-boot your machine 15 times a day? That is a real

worry... Windows 7... mine is as stable as a sea of concrete.



Regards.



wrote in message

news:9c045245-4143-41ae-9d96-803db45c3a7d@v20g2000yqv.googlegroups.com...

> Spoke too soon - on my 15th boot of the day - black bars!

>

> Dammmmmm!

>
 
PA Bear - Well, I have learned something new today - I did not

appreciate that news reader groups don't see the preceding posts - not

very user friendly in my opinion.



There was no antivirus or security suite provided with the netbook. I

had previously downloaded MSE to a memory stick so that was installed

before I connected to the net. I then went online to download the

updates. I guess that could leave me exposed for four/five minutes



I appreciate that I will need a few office compatibility downloads.



I also appreciate that the vast majority of users don't see this

problem - I don't see it on my desktop, but type in black bar & IE8

into any search engine and you will get pages and pages of people that

do! With my old hat on where we used Six Sigma to measure quality in

Defects Per Million Operations this would not look good!



Rob - The only items I have in Start Up are my graphics, touch pad,

sound, and MSE. All the rest are disabled. There are no items with the

names you cited.

I only have themes that are provided by winXp home. .



I was only booting up and and switching off again to test the

"appearance change fix". It just shows how intermittent this problem

is!
 
I'm fully aware that many users have encountered this "black menu"

phenonmenon. My point is that most users have not and these folks don't

tend to post to newsgroups & forums to say they're NOT having a problem.



Compare to buying a new car that turns out to be a lemon. You'll tell

anybody within earshot about it. But if the new car's not a lemon, you

might only mention it to a few friends.





craigmill@sky.com wrote:

> PA Bear - Well, I have learned something new today - I did not

> appreciate that news reader groups don't see the preceding posts - not

> very user friendly in my opinion.

>

> There was no antivirus or security suite provided with the netbook. I

> had previously downloaded MSE to a memory stick so that was installed

> before I connected to the net. I then went online to download the

> updates. I guess that could leave me exposed for four/five minutes

>

> I appreciate that I will need a few office compatibility downloads.

>

> I also appreciate that the vast majority of users don't see this

> problem - I don't see it on my desktop, but type in black bar & IE8

> into any search engine and you will get pages and pages of people that

> do! With my old hat on where we used Six Sigma to measure quality in

> Defects Per Million Operations this would not look good!

>

> Rob - The only items I have in Start Up are my graphics, touch pad,

> sound, and MSE. All the rest are disabled. There are no items with the

> names you cited.

> I only have themes that are provided by winXp home. .

>

> I was only booting up and and switching off again to test the

> "appearance change fix". It just shows how intermittent this problem

> is!
 
Hi,



" I only have themes that are provided by winXp home"



Say no more! They are not compatible with Win7... they are missing a value

for the background color of menu objects, but have a background color of

black for Three D objects, so when only the Three D objects background color

is applied it is also applied to the menu objects by default. You end up

with black on black menu objects, which in IE8 because the menu bar holds

(contains) the other third-party Toolbar Addons, makes all your IE8 Toolbar

Addons and menu bar black.



Don't apply them. I don't think you can uninstall them either.



Regards.



wrote in message

news:36ee9cfe-0f3a-44ba-a9a0-699f768372dd@g28g2000prb.googlegroups.com...

> PA Bear - Well, I have learned something new today - I did not

> appreciate that news reader groups don't see the preceding posts - not

> very user friendly in my opinion.

>

> There was no antivirus or security suite provided with the netbook. I

> had previously downloaded MSE to a memory stick so that was installed

> before I connected to the net. I then went online to download the

> updates. I guess that could leave me exposed for four/five minutes

>

> I appreciate that I will need a few office compatibility downloads.

>

> I also appreciate that the vast majority of users don't see this

> problem - I don't see it on my desktop, but type in black bar & IE8

> into any search engine and you will get pages and pages of people that

> do! With my old hat on where we used Six Sigma to measure quality in

> Defects Per Million Operations this would not look good!

>

> Rob - The only items I have in Start Up are my graphics, touch pad,

> sound, and MSE. All the rest are disabled. There are no items with the

> names you cited.

> I only have themes that are provided by winXp home. .

>

> I was only booting up and and switching off again to test the

> "appearance change fix". It just shows how intermittent this problem

> is!

>
 
I've fixed him up...



" I only have themes that are provided by winXp home"



I could try the same explanation (technical) at the EWS... I don't

think it would get far. I would write a fixit, but there's no profit.



"PA Bear [MS MVP]" wrote in message

news:OuNjoIWxKHA.5100@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...

> I'm fully aware that many users have encountered this "black menu"

> phenonmenon. My point is that most users have not and these folks don't

> tend to post to newsgroups & forums to say they're NOT having a problem.

>

> Compare to buying a new car that turns out to be a lemon. You'll tell

> anybody within earshot about it. But if the new car's not a lemon, you

> might only mention it to a few friends.

>

>

> craigmill@sky.com wrote:

>> PA Bear - Well, I have learned something new today - I did not

>> appreciate that news reader groups don't see the preceding posts - not

>> very user friendly in my opinion.

>>

>> There was no antivirus or security suite provided with the netbook. I

>> had previously downloaded MSE to a memory stick so that was installed

>> before I connected to the net. I then went online to download the

>> updates. I guess that could leave me exposed for four/five minutes

>>

>> I appreciate that I will need a few office compatibility downloads.

>>

>> I also appreciate that the vast majority of users don't see this

>> problem - I don't see it on my desktop, but type in black bar & IE8

>> into any search engine and you will get pages and pages of people that

>> do! With my old hat on where we used Six Sigma to measure quality in

>> Defects Per Million Operations this would not look good!

>>

>> Rob - The only items I have in Start Up are my graphics, touch pad,

>> sound, and MSE. All the rest are disabled. There are no items with the

>> names you cited.

>> I only have themes that are provided by winXp home. .

>>

>> I was only booting up and and switching off again to test the

>> "appearance change fix". It just shows how intermittent this problem

>> is!

>

>
 
But he's running WinXP on his netbook, not Win7:



> ...I have just updated my XP netbook to IE8 and discovered that the

> Menu and Favorites bar are black - the drop down menus are there but

> black on black.



Then again, we dunno if he downgraded it to WinXP either so YMMV.





rob^_^ wrote:

> Hi,

>

> " I only have themes that are provided by winXp home"

>

> Say no more! They are not compatible with Win7... they are missing a value

> for the background color of menu objects, but have a background color of

> black for Three D objects, so when only the Three D objects background

> color

> is applied it is also applied to the menu objects by default. You end up

> with black on black menu objects, which in IE8 because the menu bar holds

> (contains) the other third-party Toolbar Addons, makes all your IE8

> Toolbar

> Addons and menu bar black.

>

> Don't apply them. I don't think you can uninstall them either.

>

> Regards.

>

> wrote in message

> news:36ee9cfe-0f3a-44ba-a9a0-699f768372dd@g28g2000prb.googlegroups.com...

>> PA Bear - Well, I have learned something new today - I did not

>> appreciate that news reader groups don't see the preceding posts - not

>> very user friendly in my opinion.

>>

>> There was no antivirus or security suite provided with the netbook. I

>> had previously downloaded MSE to a memory stick so that was installed

>> before I connected to the net. I then went online to download the

>> updates. I guess that could leave me exposed for four/five minutes

>>

>> I appreciate that I will need a few office compatibility downloads.

>>

>> I also appreciate that the vast majority of users don't see this

>> problem - I don't see it on my desktop, but type in black bar & IE8

>> into any search engine and you will get pages and pages of people that

>> do! With my old hat on where we used Six Sigma to measure quality in

>> Defects Per Million Operations this would not look good!

>>

>> Rob - The only items I have in Start Up are my graphics, touch pad,

>> sound, and MSE. All the rest are disabled. There are no items with the

>> names you cited.

>> I only have themes that are provided by winXp home. .

>>

>> I was only booting up and and switching off again to test the

>> "appearance change fix". It just shows how intermittent this problem

>> is!
 
Rob, PA Bear, just to clarify - I bought the notebook with XPhome

installed.

I only wanted a small portable pc with Internet/email via WiFi along

with Word and Excel, so I have only have a base XP operating system

plus officeXP.



Raymond
 
Yes, I assumed that was the case.



Try something for us. Open IE8 to this page:

http://www.fiddlertool.com/ua.aspx. Highlight/select all of the red text at

the top of the page and copy it to your keyboard. (Also scroll down to see

if an issue has been detected and a possible resolution offered.) Open a

reply to this post & paste the contents of your clipboard into your reply.





craigmill@sky.com wrote:

> Rob, PA Bear, just to clarify - I bought the notebook with XPhome

> installed.

> I only wanted a small portable pc with Internet/email via WiFi along

> with Word and Excel, so I have only have a base XP operating system

> plus officeXP.

>

> Raymond
 
I had the same problem with black menu and favorate bar. After I followed PA

Bear's suggestion and installed Stardock program, the problem was solved and

the improvement was terrific.

"PA Bear [MS MVP]" wrote in message

news:uDFqfQixKHA.4240@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...

> Yes, I assumed that was the case.

>

> Try something for us. Open IE8 to this page:

> http://www.fiddlertool.com/ua.aspx. Highlight/select all of the red text

> at the top of the page and copy it to your keyboard. (Also scroll down to

> see if an issue has been detected and a possible resolution offered.) Open

> a reply to this post & paste the contents of your clipboard into your

> reply.

>

>

> craigmill@sky.com wrote:

>> Rob, PA Bear, just to clarify - I bought the notebook with XPhome

>> installed.

>> I only wanted a small portable pc with Internet/email via WiFi along

>> with Word and Excel, so I have only have a base XP operating system

>> plus officeXP.

>>

>> Raymond

>
 
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