Shaking Dialog Boxes

My friend has a new computer running Windows XP.

When she is looking at a little dialog box, for example, if she is looking in her pictures folder and the arrow stops over one of her pictures, there is a little information box that pops up showing the size of file, type of file, name, etc. Well, this little box shakes and shimmers all by itself and is annoying. The mouse arrow also shakes and shimmers at different times.

The question is, why does this happen moreoften than not. Is there a way to stop this from happening.

Thank you for your help.

Jean

 

Did she install Sun Java (look for a coffee cup icon in Control Panel)?

 

I don't know if she has that installed in her control panel. I will have to wait until I go over to check it out. If it is not there, do you think this is creating the problem? Also how do I install it if it is not there.

Thank you.

Jean

 

Sun Java caused me a lot of problems---shaking menus, distorted screens, flashing, etc.
Despite those staunch defenders of Sun who claim Microsoft stole it, I think that logic is kind of like Henry Ford complaining because someone else decided to use disk brakes. Microsoft made Java so much better that it is unrecognizable as Sun's. That is why Sun chose court rather than the marketplace to battle it out.
OK. My 2 cents done.
If Sun Java is there, try uninstalling it and installing Microsoft Java instead, from here:
http://tinyurl.com/oca

 

I will not be able to see my friend until next Saturday, 9/14. I will check to see has Sun Java in Control Panel. If not, I'll install as you suggested and let you know if the shaking stops.

Thanks and I'll post then.

Jean

 

If she does have Sun Java, and wants to keep it (some sites don't work without it, like some gaming sites and some web-cam sites), I'd uninstall the version she has and go to:
http://java.sun.com/getjava/download.html
to get the most recent version. You can then go to the Control Panel and click on the coffee-cup (it takes a while to come up) and disable the plugin for Internet Explorer. After you install Microsoft's version, that will be your default virtual machine, but if she needs Sun's version, she can always go back into the Control Panel and re-enable it.

 

I just returned from my friend's home and she did indeed have Java on her system. (Coffee Cup)

None of her little screens were shaking so she decided she didn't want anything done to her system, such as uninstalling and re-installing Java.

Thank you for your help. I will keep all the information and if she has the problem again, I'll be sure to heed your advice.

Jean

 

"If it ain't broke..... "
Thanks for posting back and it would be a good idea to save that information. The newest version of Sun Java didn't seem to cause the shaking for me (shaking only one computer---the older Sun Java worked fine on another).

 

I went over to my friend's house again today. The boxes were shaking again. We did as was suggested. I removed Sun Java from her system, then installed the Microsoft Java.

All seems to be working great.

Thanks for all the help.

Jean

 

A ghost from the past!

Glad it worked. Since the link I posted for MS Java is no longer valid, could you please let us know where you happened to find it?

There are a number of sources, but it is good to keep these links updated.