Thanks Jeff, turning off the monitor standby function in the power settings
seems to have rid me of the problem. I am however puzzled as to exactly what
is happening and why should this be so. Is there any proper cure for this
problem which would allow me to still use my power settings?

Thanks once again
Alec

"Jeff Richards" wrote in message
...
Disable your timed settings, such as screen saver or power saving. Do it
one at a time until you identify exactly which setting is creating this
effect.
--
Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)
"Alec" wrote in message
...
When I leave my pc on for a long time I find that when I return to it all
the text on the start menu etc and also the text on any applications that
I have left running resembles bar code stripes and iscompletely
unreadable. Any wording left that is recognisable, eg on the startup menu
etc immediately changes to the above mentioned as I run the mouse pointer
over it. This is an old cyrix 168Meg processor pc running windows 98se
with all relevant updates from the microsoft site. I would appreciate any
advice or helpful suggestions

Thanks
Alec