Windows 7 windows chopped off, don't display completely

[Kasti93]

Some windows in our Windows 7 are chopped off and don't display all the contents completely

The picture below is an example. It's the window to change the system sounds (right click on Desktop->Personalize->Sounds). What our Windows7 is showing is incomplete, the window can't be resized, and there is no scroll bar, no way to use the arrow keys to move around.... which makes it basically impossible to use it.

(Update: I also included a picture of the "Window Color and Appearance" dialog box from the personalization... it also is similarly chopped off).

I'm not sure which of Windows 7 windows are affected or why. Some work, some are incomplete: So far, I've noticed that Sound and Disk Cleaner are incomplete, but most others - including Windows Explorer - are complete.

It all worked before, but we've been customizing lots of things in our Windows 7 - themes, sounds, icons, colors, fonts. I tried resetting different things, but no luck.

I'd prefer to not have to reinstall, as I'd love to keep all the customization that we've made on it.

Any suggestions how to fix it?

Thanks.

 

[Berton]

When a window can't be resized it might be adjustable by the screen resolution settings. A good starting point for LCD or LED monitors would be 1024x768, my 21" monitor likes 1440x900. The wide-screen monitors use a 16:9 or 16:10 ration, the older CRT and CRT Flat Screen monitors worked with a 4:3 ration [width:height]

 

[Brink]

Hello Kasti,

It looks like you set your default text to a font or size to large for the dialog windows. It should just be a matter of using one that fits.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1175-fonts-change.html

 

[Kasti93]

Thanks for your suggestions

@Berton: I tried resolution settings, but no luck. Fwiw, the problem is only with dialog boxes of Windows itself. Installed programs have no display problems.

@Brink: Thank you for your message. It's an honor to get a response from you! We read many of your guides and used them in trying to customize Windows to be more beautiful and fun! . But unfortunately, there was no luck with this. I changed the default fonts back to the Windows standard as you show in your guide, and I re-set all the fonts in the Windows Color-->Advanced fonts dialog box... but it still has problems displaying correctly. I thought maybe it's a problem with the video driver, but I'm not sure why it would only affect Windows in that case. So I guess the only choice is reinstalling Windows 7.

Guess it's a lesson that trying to customize Win7 is dangerous if you don't know exactly what you're doing!

 

[Brink]

That's ok. You could also do a system restore using a restore point dated before this happened to undo it.