Hmm - I also have VPC 2004 SP1 installed on XP on a laptop, and I'm not
seeing this. I have seen it somewhere, though, but I can't recall the
circumstance, and it was temporary.
If it is any consolation, I am 99% sure that this will disappear with beta2,
and that beta2 will be available well before the current expiration date of
the beta.
In terms of magic invocations that might do something, add or remove
programs, microsoft antispyware, change, update would be what I would think
of trying, but I don't have a lot of hope. Did you make any video driver or
video utility changes, or install any XP powertoy add-ons?
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