Very odd WinXP SP2 problem (themes/firewall?)

[MIDIman]

I have a fresh install of SP2, and am noticing some very odd issues - two that I can think of, and both are random occurances:

1) Sometimes after booting, my old WinXP default theme has returned - blue start bar, blue title bars, etc. when it should be all Classic style. This even includes turning on sounds, where they were once all off.

2) Sometimes after booting (and the style is WinXP, not classic, as above), when clicking on certain filetypes while surfing the web, I get the "File Download" box, even though the file is already associated.

Those are the only two I've noticed. Both occur at the same time. Sometimes when I boot, neither occurs (i.e. Classic theme is in place, and clicking on associated filetypes in IE just immediately open in their associated program).

I've tried resetting/resaving the theme. And while it may not happen the first or even second time I boot, it'll typically happen on the third. Another odd intricacy - if I boot up and have the WinXP style, then I load Nero 6, everything immediately returns to the classic theme. Still get the file download box in IE though.


Weird ain't it?

 

[GamerExpress]

Probably would get a better response to this in Operating Systems Forum

That sounds like a very weird issue, I would try a simple system restore to start with and see if it resolves the problem, if that doesn't work then we can dig a bit deeper for you.

 

[phantom404]

Sounds like the first might be an os error. When you shut down or restart there might be some kind of error and it reverts back to the original. Not really sure

 

[roenick92]

I have that exact same problem with the theme, and it's extremely annoying. I have a seperate theme which is a duplicate of the Windows Classic theme, so I switch between them (even though Windows Classic is the current selected theme, the win xp default theme is what actually shows). It's completely random- sometimes it happens on a cold boot, sometimes on a restart.. I was really hoping somebody had a clue on this..