Windows is having a seizure

[Newbunkle]

Well, I removed AOL from my old desktop, and since then Windows has been going nuts. Most programs are fine, its only windows and internet explorer that are screwed. The size of the window keeps changing, from normal to full screen and back again over and over again (and quickly). I'm lucky I'm not epileptic, but it still gives me a headache. Every now and then it stops for a few seconds, but resumes soon after.

I tried googling, but it comes up with a bunch of unrelated results, like how to change the font size and stuff. I was going to resort to contacting microsoft, but they wanted £46 to answer an email, lol. I was hoping someone here would have a clue what was going on.

The version of Windows on my old desktop is the XP Media Centre Edition, with service pack 2. The version of AOL removed was 9.0. I don't recall making any other changes.

Maybe a file got deleted or screwed up or something.

Anyway, I'll continue googling a hundred different ways of phrasing the problem and see what results I get.

 

[J-man]

Very strange behaviour. I've never had AOL on my computer but are you sure the removal is the cause of the problem? Because this behaviour looks to me as it is caused by a virus. Run an AV scan. Do you have the latest windows patches? Because the latest XP service pack is SP 3 and it has been out for months (if not a year).

 

[Newbunkle]

A virus would have been my first thought too, but it hasn't been connected to the net for some time. The reason I removed AOL was to prepare for installing other software to get it connected again. I haven't had much luck finding any similar problems online, so I might have to try going back to a restore point. Thanks anyway.

 

[Macha]

AFAIK, AOL is tightly coupled with IE. Try reinstalling IE. Even better, upgrade to IE8. Or even better again, upgrade to Firefox, Opera, Safari, or Chrome.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

Definitely upgrade IE to verstion 8. You could install another browser but that isn't going to fix your IE experience, it will only have unrelated benefits. You might find that some other Windows apps are affected by IE so you definitely want fix this. I haven't heard of this problem in particular because it's been years since I have ran into anyone who has AOL software installed. Another option would be to clean up your registry with a reg cleaner.

 

[Newbunkle]

Thanks guys. I'm holding off for now though, as it stopped misbehaving by itself within an hour of my lsat post. I have no idea why as yet, but I think I'll wait to see if it does it again.