Windows 7: minimizing windows

Since changing to Windows 7, I find that if I minimise any window, instead of appearing in the taskbar as an icon-it vanishes completely . Can anyone give me a fix on this. Thank you.

Has it disappeared behind another open window on the task bar? Hover your mouse over an open window icon and see if a minimized 'thumbnail' pops up behind it.

no, it is not hidden behind any other icon. The program completely vanishes. Another real problem is re-occuring: I can not enter text in Explorer, help, etc, etc. All screens appear normal but when I try to enter text, nothing happens. I have a devil of a job in trying to get things back to normal-the best effort seems to be internet tools/options/advanced/reset but this does not always work, As I write, things are normal but i do not know for how long.

This does sound like pretty screwed up behavior if I'm finally understanding what is occurring correctly.

Perhaps you should try repairing system files with the "system file checker" to see if that helps. If that doesn't work, then maybe a repair install would fix the problem. A repair install leaves your programs, data and most settings intact but reinstalls windows. For detailed instructions/tutorials click on the links in this post.

Thanks very much for your help and thanks to the other members who were kind enough to assist. I tried both "Fixes" and one or both of them cured the ailments. Windows 7 seems to be now working as it should.