Solved Windows 7 Themes interfering with FireFox/Gadgets useability

[NewUserOne]

I have a custom theme that I have been using for the past month.

It is a theme with dark menus that I have come to love. I have never had problems with it interfering with Firefox or desktop gadgets before.

Last night, I tried an 'Aero' theme and decided I didn't like it and switched back to my old theme. However, now whenever firefox is loaded, the page background appears the wrong color and pictures do not load. This happens for youtube, facebook, and netflix (all opened in my homepage). I have uninstalled firefox and reinstalled twice since this issue has come up and nothing has changed.

Gadgets also do not load correctly (appearance). This has never occurred before.

This problem goes away when I use an Aero theme or the Windows 7 classic theme, but returns when I use my custom theme or a high contrast theme.

I do not believe I changed any settings under my custom theme, but if we have to, we could run through all the setting under

Appearance and Personalization > Personalization > Window Color and Appearance

To see if I have accidentally filled a field that affects Firefox/gadgets

Here are some pictures for explanation:

So this is what the gadgets should be doing and this is with the Windows 7 Aero Theme

And this is how Firefox looks

And this is how the Menu looks

Everything is fine with this theme.

Okay, so this is the "Life" Theme. This is a dark theme that doesn't interfere with gadgets/firefox.

And this is how Firefox looks

And this is how the menus look

Seems to be fine, despite the obvious and drastic change of colors.

Now here's where problems come in with my theme.

Here's how gadgets look.

Here's how Firefox looks

Here's how the menus look

I never had this problem until last night and don't remember changing anything except for switching to Aeros and back.

Is there something I'm missing? Is there a way to set windows themes to not interfere with other programs?

Thanks a lot to anyone who answers, I've become really attached to this theme and would hate to lose it.

 

[Bongo]

Welcome to the Seven Forums

Which one did you use the Universal Theme Patcher or UxStyle to enable custom themes?

Jerry

 

[NewUserOne]

Do you mean in Firefox or in Windows?

I don't believe I initially installed any additional software to alter windows themes.

I eventually did install Universal Theme Patcher, it was an impulse decision that I made because I was trying to change the color of the taskbar in windows (which I eventually decided I didn't even want to do).

I have uninstalled it though.

There was a piece of software (add-on) that I installed in Firefox, after the issue came up, to try and fix the problem, but I ended up uninstalling it because I had no luck with it. It now doesn't show up in Firefox add-ons. However, I haven't checked the Program Files (x86) folder and there could be some left over files there.

Like I said, I have reinstalled Firefox twice since this incident, but maybe there are still files left over that are causing this to happen.

I'm somewhat comfortable/proficient with Windows, but I honestly don't know where to start backtracking and I don't even know how the problem originally came up.

Thanks for you response.

 

[A Guy]

Welcome to Seven Forums NewUserOne. You would have had to use some sort of system patcher to get your 3rd party custom theme working in the 1st place? I would suggest running the System File Checker, then repatch to enable your custom theme.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html

A Guy

 

[boohbah]

i would just system restore if you want it back with your dark theme working as it did the previous night.
sfc scan will reset windows themes and file icons to default .

 

[Bongo]

Like A Guy said to use a custom theme you will need to do 1 of these 2 ways of Enabling custom themes for it to work.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/34579-enabling-custom-themes-windows-7-a.html
Or
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/28377-theme-how-apply-custom-themes.html?filter

Do the scan A Guy posted then repatch

Jerry

 

[NewUserOne]

I did the SFC Scan and got this message:

Then when to CBS Logs and got the message: "Access is denied" and it opens a blank notepad file.

I have restarted the computer and nothing has changed cosmetically and I have still having the same problems with Firefox.

I would like to repatch the problems, but I need to be able to see them.

Should i just do a system restore?

 

[Bongo]

Should i just do a system restore?

If you can

Try the sfc /scannow 3 times with a restart after each scan.

Jerry

 

[NewUserOne]

Should I try the 3 SFC/Restart first?

( should I keep system restore as last resort ? )


Also, there were some modifications like removing start button and removing start menu user picture, will these be altered/reset by system restore?

Thanks SO MUCH for your quick response!

 

[Bongo]

Should I try the 3 SFC/Restart first?

Sure you will not hurt anything.

should I keep system restore as last resort

If the scan does not help then do it.

Jerry

 

[NewUserOne]

Okay, I am doing another scan now and will do one more after reboot (followed by another reboot).

- update, so I am going to use system restore, here are the restore points

So it looks like Classic Shell would be a good point to restore to and could be causing the problems.

 

[NewUserOne]

OK guys, system restore was the cure.

All that I need to fix now is to auto hide the lock bar and remove the user picture from the start menu (easy).

Thanks a lot for your patience and all of your suggestions.

I did extensive searching on Google beforehand, but due to the keywords I only received unwanted links.

Problem solved.

 

[A Guy]

Good job, glad you got it sorted

A Guy

 

[NewUserOne]

So do you think it's safe to say that 'Classic Shell' was causing the problem?

I like the fact that it successfully got rid of the start menu picture, however it obviously causes problems.

I've tried other fixes online (even some offered in these forums) but none of the software based fixes worked.

Do you guys know of a way to do it through the registry or other settings?

It's not super important, but I figure this is a good place to ask.

 

[A Guy]

Well, I use Classic shell for that purpose, and no issues. You also installed AVG at the same time, so it's also a possibility. You can try Classic Shell again to see if any issues. I used NoUserPicture before that, although I had to manually click the exe at times.

http://www.sevenforums.com/customization/43663-remove-user-picture-start-menu.html

A Guy

 

[NewUserOne]

I downloaded the file and extracted it with winrar to the desktop, clicked on the program and the dialog box opened and said it was fixed, but nothing changed and after restarting nothing changed..

 

[A Guy]

Hmmm, worked for me when I used it. Had it in my startup. Since I liked the Classic Shell cascading all programs, and it very handily removed the user picture, I stopped using it. If I were you, I'd make a restore point then try Classic Shell again. The developer is a member here BTW. A Guy

 

[NewUserOne]

Is there a way to install classic shell without it automatically altering your start menu upon installation?

All I would need it for is just simply removing the user account picture from the start menu, but last time I installed it it automatically changed it to a classic menu and only gave me three option to choose from for the start menu (none of which were remotely similar to mine). The one that was closest to mine looked like the windows 7 Aero start menu. I didn't feel like backtracking all of the fields to get it back to how I had it, so I just restored to before I installed.

Was there some category I missed where you can just keep your current (pre-installation) start menu?


I almost don't want to download the program for one minor change, but its the only solution that has worked (among 4 other 'fixes').

Thanks

 

[A Guy]

See the last 2 posts in this thread:

http://www.sevenforums.com/customization/11213-remove-user-picture-start-menu-2.html

Not tested personally. A Guy

 

[NewUserOne]

That was the second or third method I tried and it never worked.

Oh well, it's really one of the most minor things to worry about.