rob^_^;1757217 Wrote:
> Hi Mark,
>
> Yes, yes.... it also has something to do with elevated privileges when
> writing registry values under the HKCU node. If Group Policy applies a
> desktop theme for the user at startup, the user account will not have
> high
> enough privileges to change the value. The same thing is happening for
> some
> of IE's settings and Group Policy, and probably some third party AV
> programs.
>
> Not an issue that is caused by IE8.
>
> But definitely Desktop themes and desktop color schemes comes into
> play
> sometimes. As I said, null is Russian for 0. 0 is the color code for
> black.
> (so is 0,0,0 and #ffffff)
> The registry api does not know the difference between a missing
> Key/value
> pair and a empty string (null). The value of a null string is zero.
>
> I think I know the root cause... the problem is putting it into words
> that a
> marketeer can understand.
>
> All the gold has been mined from Mt Rainer.
>
> Regards.
>
> "undisclosed" wrote in message
> news:a971186c38d67beb2d9cb428d5ec1b68@nntp-gateway.com...
> >
> > From what I can see this problem has been around since at least
> > September 2008 and most people have concluded that it has something
> to
> > do with the themes chosen. (Apparently this mostly happens to people
> who
> > use the "Windows Classic" or "Windows Standard" themes.
> >
> > It doesn't happen in safe mode which indicates that the problem is
> in
> > one of the processes or files that normal Windows uses. So I checked
> my
> > theme and it said "Windows Classic (modified)". Changed it to
> Windows
> > Classic, started IE8 and the black bars where still there. Checked
> > themes selection again and once more it showed a modified "Windows
> > Classic" again.
> >
> > I searched and searched until I found what I think is the best
> > permanent solution. It's not my idea but came from someone named
> > *ikke1*.
> >
> > Here's the procedure: Click start, control panel, administrative
> tools,
> > services. That brings up the "Services" list. Scroll down to
> "themes",
> > single click it. Click the "stop" option, double click "themes"
> which
> > opens the properties window. Change "automatic" to "manual".
> >
> > If you use 3rd party themes and you have the problem click the
> > dependancies tab and check if anything uses this service. If your's
> > does, then this may not work for you. In that case just set it back
> to
> > start and change back to "automatic".
> >
> > Here's *ikke1*'s post (near the bottom):
> >
> >
> 'http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r23676931-IE-Permanent-fix-for-IE8-black-bar-in-XP'
> > ('[IE] Permanent fix for IE8 'black bar' in XP - dslreports.com'
> (http://tinyurl.com/yhjwck6))
> >
> > I can't register or join all of the forums this problem is asked
> about,
> > so if it works for you please spread the word and give credit to
> > *ikke1*.
> >
> > Mark
> >
> >
> > --
> > mark1950m
> >
Hi Rob^_^,
Thanks for replying so quickly, I was afraid that folks wouldn't check
the forum and get the message. I know ikke1's solution isn't a "true"
fix, it's really a work-around, but it makes more sense than changing to
high contrast and back again or some of the other "fixes" that are only
temparary. It should at least help those of us who use the Classic or
Standard theme.
I know that you're more knowledgeable in this (a lot more) than I am,
and that you don't believe this to be an IE8 problem, but it's easy to
understand why people -assume- that IE8 is at fault.
I've been using IE8 on my computer (XP3) for almost a year without any
problems. When I went to upgrade my girlfriend's machine (XP2, she's got
dial-up) two weeks ago I installed SP3 and IE8 "Optimized for Google"
over IE6 and immediately saw the black bars, and immediately assumed it
was the "Optimized for Google" version that was at fault. I googled
"black bars in google optimized ie8" and found nothing so I asked
Microsoft for help and got a really nice support guy who seemed to not
have heard of the "black bar" problem at all. Well, after uninstalling
and installing ad nauseum, I came to the conclusion that it wasn't the
Google version.
When I googled "black bars in ie8" without reference to Google
Optimized, WoW!! pages upon pages. This alone makes people think that
it's IE8, especially since they *-perceive-* that Microsoft is ignoring
this and blaming it on either the user settings or 3rd party programs.
This perception is compounded by:
the fact that the only thing they did was install IE8
--
mark1950m