We have two systems - one desktop and one laptop. As identical as they can
be -- running XP SP3 and IE8. They have all updates, no custom themes, etc.
They are set to Windows Classic - Windows Standard - 32 bit color - Use
Windows Colors is set in IE8.

They have been XP stable for for a year and IE8 stable for 30-60 days.

The laptop suddenly decided to boot with the IE8 black menu problem. Why
now? No other app shows the problem.

This is fixed for the duration of that boot by going into Apperance,
Advanced selecting Menu from the pulldown and clicking OK and re-starting
IE8.
NO CHANGES have to be made - the Menu selection shows the default colors as
they should be.

Re-installing IE8 (no disk wipe) did not fix the problem.

When you re-boot IE8 "forgets" to look at the properties and goes back to
black.

None of the explanations I have read make any sense. And the work arounds
with color settings affect too many other apps or are a pain in the ass.

MICROSFOFT NEEDS TO FIX THIS -- IT CAN"T BE THAT DIFFICULT
--
Tom

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Or you could disable/uninstall third-party Windows Themes.

cf.
http://groups.google.com/group/micro...lack%2Btoolbar

tomluoma wrote:
> We have two systems - one desktop and one laptop. As identical as they
> can
> be -- running XP SP3 and IE8. They have all updates, no custom themes,
> etc.
> They are set to Windows Classic - Windows Standard - 32 bit color - Use
> Windows Colors is set in IE8...