All of my buttons are blank and useless
 

WinXP Home
Athlon 3000+
512MB DDR
120GB HD
no modifications to windows, and (prepare to be shocked,) all software is legit, no cracked stuff or warez

I've noticed this in installers, AIM, and a few other programs. Instead of normal buttons, they have on text on them. I checked for Wind ows Updates, scanned for virii, and double-checked to make sure that the text color hadn't been set to the same as the buttons themselves. This is making some programs very difficult to use. Also, the text labels next to text input boxes are not showing up. This only happens in some programs, such as AIM and DC++, as well as a few installers. mIRC is fine, IE, Opera, and Mozilla are fine.


I'm befuddled, and I don't really want to re-install Windows.

I had something similar happen to me a little while back:

I installed the font pack for Japanese text (like what happens when you to a website with Japenese text and IE goes "hey! install this!"), and didn't reboot like it wanted -- up until I rebooted, almost all of my text, including the stuff on buttons, etc., completely vanished. Once I rebooted, it went back to normal.

Do you remember if the text that is not showing up is, for example, all the same font? It might be something as simple as a file getting corrupted.

Now I can't wait to get home and try this. I just installed the Japanese font pack. Thanks for the help.

If that doesn't work, try re-installing your virus scanner. I had the same problem and it turned out my norton had been comprimised.