"search box" disabled on "save" or "save as" file dialog

So, the search box found on Wordpad, Windows Explorer or the Start Menu are unaffected. Now, from any other document-orientated desktop application (Word 2013, LibreOffice, Abbyy Reader, iMindMap, Firefox browser), if I click on "save" or "save as" buttons, the file save dialog box appears and is now masking out the search bar found in top right corner.

A white band now appears across the location of the search box, and I cant 'click' to position the text cursor inside the box.

I tried restoring system to previous restore point, but problem wont go away.
Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Hi Ranger4, thanks for the question: The default Desktop theme is Aero, if I temporary change the theme to Windows Classic, and try again, then visually the white band does actually disappear, however the the search box remains disabled.

Yes that is perfectly correct, standard practice for each save command still works reliably from every desktop application. That is, each user can navigate each folder or directory on any drive (that they have sufficient access privileges), from the "save" dialog box.
To clarify the behavior of the 'disabled search box', I'd say that this white band (across the search box) in aero actually looks as if it has been graphically redacted. Whereas the 'disabled' action in either theme actually 'blocks' user input of the text cursor, thus preventing the "search" command from being executed.
Perhaps I should have included a screen image.
I'll do that now.

( ---> Now how do I add image under text!!! Anyway, 2 images appear as thumbnails attachments.)

Image 1 MS paint dialog box.
This is "save as" in MS Paint. The window shows the features you'd assume in this kind of dialog box (Common File Dialog Box). The Common Shell folders are located on the left, File Name and Type are towards the bottom of the window, "Save" and "Cancel" commands are in bottom-right corner, and then the Search box is at Top-Left corner. Nothing unusual or concerning.

Image 2 MS Word dialog box 'blocked'

This image is of "save as" from MS Word. What is unusual about this dialog box is the search bar towards the top right.
Immediately you can see that the italisised "search <name of directory or folder>" text is missing from the search bar. I don't know whether you can also see, but there is now a white band that has appeared. The white band starts just inside the left corner of the search bar, and extends right just before the blue search icon. The top and bottom of the white band just clips the top and bottom borders of the search bar. I have never seen the operating system create this UI behavior in a desktop application. I have placed the mouse cursor over the redacted area to help make it more visible. If I were to click the hovering mouse pointer on the redacted search box, then nothing happens - the standard mode change to text cursor never appears. If I start typing text at this point, then the text appears on the File name bar, and not the search bar location.

If I were to change the file format that Im trying to save, then it makes no difference. Changing to Classic theme, removed the redacted 'white band', but in Classic theme, the UI behavior of the search box is still prevents the Search command from being executed.

BTW, I can also replicate the problem in the PDF printer on the Opera web browser. Same symptoms as described. Yet, from the web browser, if I change printer to XPS document writer, the issue is not present.

Looks as if problem affects more than just Office applications. My operating system is 64-bit and my Office installations are 32-bit. As for the other applications, I know not if they are 64 or 32 bit.

It looks as if this problem has gone away/fixed. I can now launch these applications and choose either "save" or "save as" (or "open") and not only has the white band vannished in aero glass, but I can also once again type text into the dialog search box.

I wonder if this issue was caused by DLL hijacking?

DLL Hijacking Vulnerability Attacks, Prevention & Detection
Microsoft Security Advisory 2269637

I have been running Superantispyware, Malwarebytes and ADWCleaner over the past 2-4 days. Perhaps these scans have safely removed the threat or vulnerable code?

The log files from the scans report various. There is no identification of malicious DLLs present in the logs.

Thanks for your help BTW. I suppose over the days and weeks I'd wished for more experts on this site to post with their suggestions. However, enough was enough, and I reckon I'd managed to explore the question sufficiently to solve it, if not identify possible cause.