BleepingComputer.com: Ie7 Stuck On Desktop In Full Screen Mode

hello, here is the description
my father's laptop windows xp with ie7. also has aol installed. java is current.
appears that ie7 is stuck open in full-screen mode. it is located on the right half of the monitor.
left half of monitor still has desktop background and icons. computer seems to function normally other than this.

the stuck ie7 doesnot have the address bar, tool bar, or blue heading bar at the very top of typical ie pages; it does have the menu bar with File, Edit, View, Favorites, etc. the default browser page is google, and stuck ie7 can be used for google search. if so, it bringsup a second ie7 with the search results.

it does not s how up as any application in task manager. and the task manager processes do not show Iexplore.exe running.

av software is mcafee, have also run kaspersky online av check and spybot and nothing unusual was found.

i have restarted and rebooted several times, the stuck ie7 comes back.

tried the F11 key as it is used to bring ie out of the full screen mode but the F11 key has no effect.

thanks

Hello cobalt5002,

That is a strange problem, the event viewer may give some clues as to the problem.

Event viewer can be found in control panel under administrative tools. On the left hand side there are groups called application, security etc. open each group and search for errors and warnings.

Also, could you provide a screenshot of the problem?

thanks alan,
i will look at the eventviewer and get back with an answer.
also, what is the easiest way to get a screenshot. i dont have any thing like snagit installed on his computer.
is there a way with windows to get a screenshot?

A screenshot can be taken by pressing the prt scrn button on the keyboard then opening up paint and pressing CTRL+V then you need to save the image and upload it to an image hosting site such as photobucket.

Ok,
i looked at eventviewer and didnt see anything too suspicious.
here is the link to photobucket, hope it works

http://i528.photobucket.com/albums/dd322/c...creen-image.jpg


if i right click on ie, then click "view source" i get some script of the page. will post it below in case that helps.

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function sf(){document.f.q.focus()}
window.clk=function(b,c,d,e,f,g){if(document.images){var a=encodeURIComponent||escape;(new Image).src="/url?sa=T"+(c?"&oi="+a©:"")+(d?"&cad="+a(d):"")+"&ct="+a(e)+"&cd="+a(f)+(b?"&url="+a(b.replace(/#.*/,"")).replace(/\+/g,"%2B"):"")+"&ei=M3-fSM_qPI3cedTMgN8F"+g}return true};
window.gbar={};(function(){var b=window.gbar,f,h;b.qs=function(a){var c=window.encodeURIComponent&&(document.forms[0].q||"").value;if©a.href=a.href.replace(/([?&])q=[^&]*|$/,function(i,g){return(g||"&")+"q="+encodeURIComponent©})};function j(a,c){a.visibility=h?"hidden":"visible";a.left=c+"px"}b.tg=function(a){a=a||window.event;var c=0,i,g=window.navExtra,d=document.getElementById("gbi"),e=a.target||a.srcElement;a.cancelBubble=true;if(!f){f=document.createElement(Array.every||window.createPopup?"iframe":"div");f.frameBorder="0";f.src="#";d.parentNode.appendChild(f).id="gbs";if(g)for(i in g)d.insertBefore(g[i],d.firstChild).className="gb2";document.onclick=b.close}if(e.className!="gb3")e=e.parentNode;do c+=e.offsetLeft;while(e=e.offsetParent);j(d.style,c);f.style.width=d.offsetWidth+"px";f.style.height=d.offsetHeight+"px";j(f.style,c);h=!h};b.close=function(a){h&&b.tg(a)}})();</script></head><body bgcolor=#ffffff text=#000000 link=#0000cc vlink=#551a8b alink=#ff0000 onload="sf();if(document.images){new Image().src='/images/nav_logo3.png'}" topmargin=3 marginheight=3><div id=gbar><nobr><b class=gb1>Web</b> <a href="http://images.google.com/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi" onclick=gbar.qs(this) class=gb1>Images</a> <a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&tab=wl" onclick=gbar.qs(this) class=gb1>Maps</a> <a href="http://news.google.com/nwshp?hl=en&tab=wn" onclick=gbar.qs(this) class=gb1>News</a> <a href="http://www.google.com/prdhp?hl=en&tab=wf" onclick=gbar.qs(this) class=gb1>Shopping</a> <a href="http://mail.google.com/mail/?hl=en&tab=wm" class=gb1>Gmail</a> <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/" onclick="this.blur();gbar.tg(event);return !1" class=gb3><u>more</u> <small>▼</small></a><div id=gbi><a></a> <a href="http://video.google.com/?hl=en&tab=wv" onclick=gbar.qs(this) class=gb2>Video</a> <a href="http://groups.google.com/grphp?hl=en&tab=wg" onclick=gbar.qs(this) class=gb2>Groups</a> <a href="http://books.google.com/bkshp?hl=en&tab=wp" onclick=gbar.qs(this) class=gb2>Books</a> <a href="http://scholar.google.com/schhp?hl=en&tab=ws" onclick=gbar.qs(this) class=gb2>Scholar</a> <a href="http://finance.google.com/finance?hl=en&tab=we" onclick=gbar.qs(this) class=gb2>Finance</a> <a href="http://blogsearch.google.com/?hl=en&tab=wb" onclick=gbar.qs(this) class=gb2>Blogs</a> <div class=gb2><div class=gbd></div></div><a></a> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/?hl=en&tab=w1" onclick=gbar.qs(this) class=gb2>YouTube</a> <a href="http://www.google.com/calendar/render?hl=en&tab=wc" class=gb2>Calendar</a> <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/home?hl=en&tab=wq" onclick=gbar.qs(this) class=gb2>Photos</a> <a href="http://docs.google.com/?hl=en&tab=wo" class=gb2>Documents</a> <a href="http://www.google.com/reader/view/?hl=en&tab=wy" class=gb2>Reader</a> <a href="http://sites.google.com/?hl=en&tab=w3" class=gb2>Sites</a> <div class=gb2><div class=gbd></div></div><a></a> <a href="http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/" class=gb2>even more &raquo;</a> </div></nobr></div><div class=gbh style=left:0></div><div class=gbh style=right:0></div><div align=right id=guser style="font-size:84%;padding:0 0 4px" width=100%><nobr><a href="/url?sa=p&pref=ig&pval=3&q=http://www.google.com/ig%3Fhl%3Den%26source%3Diglk&usg=AFQjCNFA18XPfgb7dKnXfKz7x7g1GDH1tg">iGoogle</a> | <a href="https://www.google.com/accounts/Login?continue=http://www.google.com/&hl=en">Sign in</a></nobr></div><center><br clear=all id=lgpd><a href="/search?q=Beijing+2008+Olympic+Games&hl=en"><img src=/logos/olympics08_weightlifting.gif width=320 height=110 border=0 alt="Beijing 2008 Olympic Games" title="Beijing 2008 Olympic Games"></a><br><br><form action="/search" name=f><table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0><tr valign=top><td width=25%>&nbsp;</td><td align=center nowrap><input name=hl type=hidden value=en><input maxlength=2048 name=q size=55 title="Google Search" value=""><br><input name=btnG type=submit value="Google Search"><input name=btnI type=submit value="I'm Feeling Lucky"></td><td nowrap width=25%><font size=-2>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=/advanced_search?hl=en>Advanced Search</a><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=/preferences?hl=en>Preferences</a><br>&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href=/language_tools?hl=en>Language Tools</a></font></td></tr></table></form><br><font size=-1>Stay up to date on the <a href="/aclk?sa=L&ai=Bbrsg336fSM_VGKi0eIXCvZ0LqYm-c-_wgYMJwdmc2RPQhgMQARgBIMFUOABQjLSY-_r_____AWC7Bg&num=1&sig=AGiWqtw8a87KMVjnSmKUeaZvAYNecxgXFw&q=http://www.google.com/landing/summergames2008/index.html#source=sghp">Summer Games</a> with Google</font><br><br><br><font size=-1><a href="/intl/en/ads/">Advertising&nbsp;Programs</a> - <a href="/services/">Business Solutions</a> - <a href="/intl/en/about.html">About Google</a><p id=kbe style="display:none;behavior:url(#default#homePage) url(#default#userData)"><font size=-1><a href="/aclk?sa=L&ai=Bm7v_J3-fSJG3AoPmebfc7fIJtbeJLpXOnNcFza2TlxHQhgMQARgBIMFUOABQvpyhyfj_____AWDJBg&num=1&sig=AGiWqtzDaKxjN67pQB5GBLykh1UOYHHCMA&q=/mgyhp.html" onclick=kbs()>Make Google Your Homepage!</a></p><script>(function(){var b="kbe",a=document.getElementById(,c="http://www.google.com/",d;function k(){try{d=a.isHomePage©}catch(z){d=0}}k();if(!d)a.style.display="block";window.kbs=function(){try{a.setHomePage©;k();(new Image).src="/gen_204?sa=X&ct=mgyhpb&cd="+!!d;}catch(z){}}})();</script></font><p><font size=-2>&copy;2008 - <a href="/intl/en/privacy.html">Privacy</a></font></p></center></body></html>

Shot in the dark...hope it helps.
Right click on the desktop, choose Properties.
Click the Desktop tab then Customize Desktop button.
In the new window click the Web tab and see if the Google
page is listed in the box. Delete it if it is.

Thanks Raw,
that did the trick.
i cant imagine how it got that way. my dad would not be changing settings like that in display.
could there be some malware that would do such a thing?
I may post a HJT print out and let someone take a look at it.

Thanks again

Nothing about this leads me to believe it's malware related.
One of the options when you right click in the IE window is
"Set as Background" Looks to me like a mis-click.
Glad it worked out.