Hello geeks,
I started having a strange problem with Photoshop display which can drive one crazy and makes it impossible to work.
The background:
Computer: HP Prodesk 400;
OS: Win7 Pro, SP1;
RAM: 8GB;
The computer is about 20 months old. About 2 months ago it started slowing down to the point of freezing. I reinstalled the OS from the recovery disks.
It works better, but a strange issue popped up. I have an old version of Photoshop, CS2, which always worked perfectly. In the default PS layout, the tools are placed on the right and left of screen. What happens now is that after a few steps of working on an image, when I switch to another application (Alt+tab), e.g. Outlook or Excel, the PS tool menus are displayed on top of these applications. They are not displayed only when PS is minimized.
Another manifestation of this display problem is the image and the tool menu disappearance on mouse click. If I click the mouse on a woks space or a tool bar or switch to another application and back, the display reappears.
When I bring the Save As dialog screen and try to rename the file, the dialog screen disappears on mouse click.
When I try to change the file type from, e.g. TIF to JPG, the dialog screen disappears EXCEPT for the dropdown menu with file types.
The PS was reinstalled a time or two but the problem persists.
I can think of four reasons: 1) a bug in PS; 2) video display; 3) mouse; 3) memory;
None of them make sense because PS works fine on my tablet and used to work fine before the OS reinstall;
I have no issues with any other application;
The mouse (old but still good Logitech M570) behaves normally with other programs;
Memory? I do not know enough to make a connection.
(Another memory related problem observed is Firefox eating progressively more RAM, up to 90%+, even if left unattended for 15-30 min but I am not sure if these two problems are related).
Thank you very much!
Boris