Menu Bar Disappears After Using Internet Explorer for a While

[Guess Who]

Hi,

Microsoft's Knowledge Base KB234012
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/234012/EN-US/ describes the exact problem I
am experiencing. After using IE for awhile, the menubar disappers and right
click context menu disappears. Other toolbars remain visible. The
knowledge base says it is due to a memory leak in Internet Explorer.
Microsoft claims to have a fix for it, but they want money for it! I don't
think I should pay to get a fix to a bug in their program.

I have WinXP Pro SP2 running IE 6.0.2900.2180.xpsp_sp2_rtm.040803-2158. My
system has 512MB memory.

This problem is a real nuisance. Anybody know of an alternate solution
aside from using a non-Microsoft browser?

Thanks,
Mark

 

[PA Bear]

KB234012 is IE5.0-specific, Mark.

I'd check for 'malware', myself:

Help with Hijackware
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
http://aumha.org/a/quickfix.htm
http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/unwanted.htm
http://inetexplorer.mvps.org/Darnit.htm
http://www.mvps.org/sramesh2k/Malware_Defence.htm

--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE/OE)

Posting and You
http://www.trials-shack.co.uk/posting.html

 

[Robert Aldwinckle]

knowledge base says it is due to a memory leak in Internet Explorer.

<title>KB319740 - MFC applications leak GDI objects on computers that are running Windows XP</title>


There are still leaks for GDI Objects in XPsp2.
Use Task Manager to look for it under explorer.exe
in the Processes tab. (You may have to add that column
with the View, Select Columns... command.)

Whenever explorer.exe gets over 9,000 on that statistic
I kill it and restart it. Sometimes I just leave it ended
and work without the Taskbar for a while. Having AutoComplete
and Browse... in Task Manager's New Task... command
is really almost enough.

Another thing that I have done to reduce the frequency that
this has to be done is stopped the Themes service (and made it Manual
instead of Automatic). Changing the Display Properties theme
to Windows Classic may also have helped.

I use Mousekeys a lot (especially as an alternative to repetitive single
clicking) and have noticed that using its singleclick and doubleclick
emulations are one of the sources of the leaks. Consequently whenever
convenient I avoid using those keys and revert to true mouse clicks
or some other keyboard alternatives.


HTH

Robert Aldwinckle