Minimize, maximize and close buttons not working - HELP!!!

Hi - Im new to the forum, creating an account mainly for this problem, but am keen to help others.
Anyway, with the problem im having; whenever i press the minimize, maximize or close buttons in a Windows window they do not react. This is the same case for resizing a window. It only occurs in a windows based window - such as my computer, windows explorer and internet explorer. However it is ok for programs such as Itunes, and Norton 360. I dont know if it is related but whenever i get a confirmation window, the words for YES and NO dont appear; for example saving a document, or image, the YES or NO does not appear
I have searched the internet but no really successful results occured. Im trying to move away from doing a repair install.
If anyone has any advice i would seriously appreciate it. If you are experiencing similar problems please comment too, just to make sure im not the only one.

I think a repair install will be the only sure fire way to sort it, as this is such a strange problem. Have you tried rolling back your PC to when it worked using system restore?

I want to avoid a repair install because i have to reinstall the updates again, i have tried the system restore once, but i will set it to an earlier date and see if anything changes.

There is no repair installation in Win 7!
Believe me, I've tried and had to do a clean install in the end. Good thing is that the clean install recognises an earlier install and whacks it into a folder called Windows.old!

Alright. If this problem is what I think it is, this is an easy fix. First, try double clicking on those buttons. If it works, you're in luck. If that doesn't, then you might not be, but still try this:
1. Install ANY updates, including the optional ones. You can do this by going to Start>Control Panel>System and Security>Windows Update>Then, you should see (if there are any) "1 optional update ready for install" or something like that. Click that, select the updates, and download and install them.
2. Verify your device drivers are fully updated. Lets update the mouse driver. You can do this by going to Start>Control Panel>All Control Panel Items>Mouse>Hardware>Properties>Change Settings (it has a little shield next to it)>Driver>Update Driver>Search Automatically for Updated Driver Software.
You can do this for any device. Just follow the "Properties>Change Settings (it has a little shield next to it)>Driver>Update Driver>Search Automatically for Updated Driver Software" part while you're at your device management. Hope this helped! If you need anything more, just post and I guarantee someone will help you.

right - I tried to system restore, but doesnt go any further than the day after the problem occured - tried it anyway, no luck. i followed BetaMan's steps and hit into a problem, my update is not working, last time run was 30/1/2009. My updates are turned on but whenever i try retry it comes up with an error and big X icon. the error code is code 80070002. (this is all i need)!!!

Alright. I googled your error code and I didn't find anything for windows 7 but I did find something for vista, which is the closest thing. Here's a quote of the steps and then the link to the article. There's might be some trouble with the repair install, but play around with this stuff.
Link: http://www.webtlk.com/2008/04/28/win...de-0×80070002/

As I've already said "THERE IS NO REPAIR INSTALLATION IN WINDOWS 7!" :sigh:

Yeah, sorry I didn't realize that it said to do a repair. I just saw the steps and thought "Hey look! Steps!"
EDIT: You can create a system repair disk then boot from it. That might help, but I'm trying to help, so bear with me here.

Have you done or run anything to alter or modify your installation?
For example, run a proggie to get rid of the Windows 7 message at the bottom right of screen, or been fiddling around in the registry!