Hi guys,

I'm after a bit of help myself now.

My MD has a high-spec (P4, 512Mb) laptop running Windows XP (SP1), Office 2000 SR1 and Internet Explorer 6.

Today we have found that some graphics are very low quality, e.g. the edges aren't smooth like you would expect from a high resolution picture - it's as if the images are low resolution and scaled up to appear bigger on the screen.

At first, we thought that this problem was just on web pages in IE but further investigation showed that the Log Off and Shut Down icons on the XP Start Menu (and probably some other Windows graphics) have the same problem.

We've gone through IE settings such as Smart Image Dithering, switching on all the protocols, etc and have clicked the 'Reset Web Settings' option but to no avail. Also, deleted temp internet files.

This happens under different user profiles.

Just about to run HiJack This and Ad-Aware in case there's something off the 'net that's started causing the issue.

Any other ideas?

Found these 2 posts as to system icon blur.

"I actually was able to fix it (Icon Blur) by
going into System Properties (rt. click My Computer), Advanced, Performance, Settings.
It was set to "Adjust for best appearance"
(which is what I wanted) and I just clicked on "Adjust
for best performance" and applied and then just reset it
to "Adjust for best appearance" and everyting was back to
right."

Also:

Try the edit on line 4:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

Also perhaps under Control Panel - Display - Appearance - Effects - Show shadows under menus?

Thanks Jephree - will try to get a look at those this afternoon.

Incidentally, HiJack This and Ad-Aware came up with nothing.

Will look at those suggestions above and, if there's still no change, I reckon re-installing IE6 and/or the graphics driver will be the next step.

Thanks Jephree but none of those suggestions fixed it. Had another look at the IE options page and altered a couple more settings but, unsurprisingly, they had no effect.

Re-installed IE6 SP1 and upgraded DirectX 8.1 to DirectX 9.0b. Changed resolution, colours, etc again.

Searched Microsoft KnowledgeBase and ran Windows Update to check for a newer video driver.

Nothing I did sorted it

Oh well, the boss is due to get a new laptop next week anyway (if I pull my finger out and set it up!) so he agreed to just put up with it for now