I bought a used Toshiba Tecra laptop from a friend a while back. Windows XP, 512 mb ram, 1.6 ghz. I noticed from the start that the formating on multiple applications was wrong. It's most obvious on WEB browsers: some buttons aren't colored right, some are invisible, text is in the wrong place, etc. I thought that maybe something was wrong with my Java, but I updated it and it didn't get any better. I updated XP with all the PATCHES and securities, still doesn't work. The problem isn't the browser, because both IE and Firefox have the same problem. I also see it when I use Mcaffee. It also seems to affect Flash video: I can't fullscrean them on this computer.

My friend had all sorts of crap on this computer, which I removed mostly because I didn't need it, but also because alot of it had various malware. I'm afraid that I might have deleted a DLL file or messed up the registry when getting rid of all this crap, but I don't think I did anything particularly unusual, and I'm pretty sure the problem started when I first got the laptop. I've done everything I can think of. Anyone have any bright ideas?The first thing I do when I buy a used computer is wipe it out and reinstall the operating system. Do you have the Windows CD or a recovery partition?no such luck, I'm afraid.How long have you had it?
Have you TRIED doing a system restore?Over a year and a half. I got it mainly so I could write a paper--sometimes home is too distracting. It works fine for that, it's just very anoying when I use an application that has LOTS of Java-type buttons (don't know if that's what it is or not).

It's funny, but I hadn't considered doing a restore. I don't have any important applications that would be negatively affected, so that might just be the solution. I hope, anyway, LOL.It may have recovery partition...

Hold down the 0 (zero) key and TURN the laptop on. Keep holding down the zero key until the TOSHIBA logo appears, where you should start tapping the zero key repeatedly. Stop if the unit beeps or when the TOSHIBA logo disappears. The screen should flash ** HDD RECOVERY MODE ** for a split second, then load the Toshiba recovery program right from the hard drive.
Looks like I only have two restore points, and they're recent. Oh well
Quote from: Broni on October 26, 2009, 10:45:31 PM

It may have recovery partition...

Hold down the 0 (zero) key and turn the laptop on. Keep holding down the zero key until the TOSHIBA logo appears, where you should start tapping the zero key repeatedly. Stop if the unit beeps or when the TOSHIBA logo disappears. The screen should flash ** HDD RECOVERY MODE ** for a split second, then load the Toshiba recovery program right from the hard drive.