Problem with IE-8 menu bar

I finally managed to get into MS Update today when it wasn't quite so busy, and found that this month IE-8 is a critical update for XP, with no (apparent) way to opt out of that and take the other two. So went through the ordeal of downloading and installing it -- I swear SP3 was faster and easier.

Main problem is the menu bar -- it's solid black with no indication of where the entries are, much less what they are. I found that if I click in various places along it and luck into one of the menus, I can then get all of them to show their drop-down portions in turn as I mouse-over them. Tooltips would have been a help, but I guess no one including MS uses those for menus, just toolbars.

Thank heaven I use Firefox as my default, and only need IE for MS updates. Anyone got any ideas on how to correct this visibility problem, for the rare time I do need IE? Thanks.

 

Thanks, Ron. Yes, the menu bar's ticked and is definitely there, but it's black-on-black which is useless. Guess I'll have to try the reinstall you suggested.

Can you steer me to somewhere I can get an offline installer, if there is such a thing? The one I downloaded from the Update site (something like 20 megs) insisted on going online and getting another 15 or 20 megs when I ran it.

 

Good enough, thanks Ron. Unfortunately the re-installation did the same thing, although turning on the "command bar", set to icons only, does at least give me something visible to work with. Fortunately I'll only need it half an hour or so a month.

 

Aha, thanks! "Set for best appearance" did the trick, although I'm not happy with Windows in general with that setting since it's in effect a whole new scheme that (to me) looks like hell -- I don't use the "common tasks" pane, for instance, and I don't like the default colors.

Considering Patch Tuesday is (normally) the only time I use IE, probably the simplest solution is to switch to that setting just while updating, then back to my normal scheme when done.

Thanks again, and best.

 

had same problem...this fixed it



http://social.answers.microsoft.com...r/thread/b769c05c-9a6b-45b2-afb1-e7d5de374188