Notepad and Wordpad oddities

  • Thread starter Thread starter JimL
  • Start date Start date
J

JimL

Running XP Pro SP3 with up to this minute updates, on Thinkpad T60P.

I have suddenly started seeing the menu bars in Notepad and Wordpad showing
characters in black on white instead of black on pale gray. Everything else
in the bar is pale gray. The white background appears on at the characters
themselves, making little white boxes around the words. Are there any kind
of controls for this kind of thing?

Oddities bug me because with my luck whatever causes them will cause
something else.

JimL
 
I don't know what I was supposed to check, but after the start in Safe Mode
[dangerous mode] the characters are back to normal. I'm still putting back
my custom windows but the characters are right.

Someone would chew me out if I did, so I won't say how dumb it is for Safe
mode to destroy settings.

JimL
 
safe mode is a diagnostic
mode and not a dangerous
mode.

since the ~pads are normal
in safe mode,

then this implies the system
files are not corrupted.

so to begin your trouble-
shooting I would initiate
a clean boot and see if
the issue is resolved in
normal mode.

--
--
db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>

DatabaseBen, Retired Professional

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This NNTP newsgroup is evolving to:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx


JimL said:
I don't know what I was supposed to check, but after the start in Safe
Mode [dangerous mode] the characters are back to normal. I'm still
putting back my custom windows but the characters are right.

Someone would chew me out if I did, so I won't say how dumb it is for Safe
mode to destroy settings.

JimL

Db said:
you can double check the
issue in safe mode.

--
--
db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>

DatabaseBen, Retired Professional

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This NNTP newsgroup is evolving to:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Db said:
safe mode is a diagnostic
mode and not a dangerous
mode.
Click to expand...

"Safe Mode" _ALWAYS_ screws up my window/folder settings, among other
things - like rearranging custom desktop icons. It switches from separate
window settings to a mix of "some" separate window settings and some "all
the same" settings. It scraps the sizes of scores if not hundreds of
windows I had set individually over a period of months. _ALWAYS_. Setting
things back to "separate settings mode" does NOT put everything back. (It
does leave the custom size of the settings buffer the same for some reason.)

Whoever wrote the "Safe Mode" routines decided user settings must not be
maintained if they don't use all MS original settings, modes and
arrangements. This has run true for many iterations of XP Pro and I think
some previous versions.
since the ~pads are normal
in safe mode,
Click to expand...

Let me reword what I meant when I said "after the start in 'Safe Mode'...
the characters are back to normal" with emphasis on the word "after."

The entire color scheme is different in "safe Mode." The whole menu bar is
black on white instead of black on gray as it is in normal mode, so "Safe
Mode" _shows_ me nothing at all. The characters are back to normal after
the start in "Safe Mode" -and- rebooting to normal mode.

Thanks
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This NNTP newsgroup is evolving to:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx


JimL said:
I don't know what I was supposed to check, but after the start in Safe
Mode [dangerous mode] the characters are back to normal. I'm still
putting back my custom windows but the characters are right.

Someone would chew me out if I did, so I won't say how dumb it is for
Safe mode to destroy settings.

JimL

Db said:
you can double check the
issue in safe mode.

--
--
db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>

DatabaseBen, Retired Professional

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This NNTP newsgroup is evolving to:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx


Running XP Pro SP3 with up to this minute updates, on Thinkpad T60P.

I have suddenly started seeing the menu bars in Notepad and Wordpad
showing characters in black on white instead of black on pale gray.
Everything else in the bar is pale gray. The white background appears
on at the characters themselves, making little white boxes around the
words. Are there any kind of controls for this kind of thing?

Oddities bug me because with my luck whatever causes them will cause
something else.

JimL
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
not sure why your
safe mode would mess
things up.

perhaps, this is a clue
to another issue with
the o.s.

booting in safe mode
simply loads the core
system files

while third party programs
and services are disabled.

--
--
db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>

DatabaseBen, Retired Professional

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This NNTP newsgroup is evolving to:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx


JimL said:
Db said:
safe mode is a diagnostic
mode and not a dangerous
mode.
Click to expand...

"Safe Mode" _ALWAYS_ screws up my window/folder settings, among other
things - like rearranging custom desktop icons. It switches from separate
window settings to a mix of "some" separate window settings and some "all
the same" settings. It scraps the sizes of scores if not hundreds of
windows I had set individually over a period of months. _ALWAYS_.
Setting things back to "separate settings mode" does NOT put everything
back. (It does leave the custom size of the settings buffer the same for
some reason.)

Whoever wrote the "Safe Mode" routines decided user settings must not be
maintained if they don't use all MS original settings, modes and
arrangements. This has run true for many iterations of XP Pro and I think
some previous versions.
since the ~pads are normal
in safe mode,
Click to expand...

Let me reword what I meant when I said "after the start in 'Safe Mode'...
the characters are back to normal" with emphasis on the word "after."

The entire color scheme is different in "safe Mode." The whole menu bar
is black on white instead of black on gray as it is in normal mode, so
"Safe Mode" _shows_ me nothing at all. The characters are back to normal
after the start in "Safe Mode" -and- rebooting to normal mode.

Thanks
DatabaseBen, Retired Professional

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This NNTP newsgroup is evolving to:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx


JimL said:
I don't know what I was supposed to check, but after the start in Safe
Mode [dangerous mode] the characters are back to normal. I'm still
putting back my custom windows but the characters are right.

Someone would chew me out if I did, so I won't say how dumb it is for
Safe mode to destroy settings.

JimL


you can double check the
issue in safe mode.

--
--
db·´¯`·...¸><)))º>

DatabaseBen, Retired Professional

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This NNTP newsgroup is evolving to:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/default.aspx


Running XP Pro SP3 with up to this minute updates, on Thinkpad T60P.

I have suddenly started seeing the menu bars in Notepad and Wordpad
showing characters in black on white instead of black on pale gray.
Everything else in the bar is pale gray. The white background appears
on at the characters themselves, making little white boxes around the
words. Are there any kind of controls for this kind of thing?

Oddities bug me because with my luck whatever causes them will cause
something else.

JimL
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Db said:
not sure why your
safe mode would mess
things up.

perhaps, this is a clue
to another issue with
the o.s.
Click to expand...

"My" safe mode has covered 3 separate machines over several years with
separate factory installed OSs.

JimL
 
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