Issues with the taskbar and desktop

I have Vista Home Premium 32-bit and I've got a few issues. After a short
amount of time, the taskbar gets really messed up (systray icons on left
side, can't click anything, desktop icons don't unhighlight, etc...). I can
temporarily rectify the issue by closing and restarting explorer.exe but
what's causing this to occur?

OS: Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit, Windows Aero active
CPU, RAM: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+, 3.00GB RAM
Video: ATI Radeon X850 XT w/ Catalyst 7.1 Vista 32-bit drivers

Do you have any third party applications attempting running inside Windows
Vista?

If so, will you provide the name(s) of the applications?

Also, is your version of Vista Genuine Microsoft, or OEM?

Since you are using an Athlon 64X, what you describe is most unusual.

These are the major programs that are running on startup:
RMClock 2.2 (manual CPU clock multiplier/voltage adjustment)
SpeedFan 4.31 (automatic fan speed control and temperature monitoring)
Google Picasa2 Media Detector 2.6.0
AVG Free 7.5.441
Logitech SetPoint 3.30.159 (for my MX310)
Webroot Spy Sweeper 5.3.1.2144

Other major drivers installed:
SpeedFan (it has its own driver)
ATi/AMD Catalyst 7.1 Vista 32-bit (for my graphics card)
nVidia nForce4 Vista Drivers (Systems management interface only)
The dreaded Starforce drivers (just updated to Feb 8, 2007) (so I can play
TrackMania Sunrise)

User Account Control is off (much too annoying for me)

OS is Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium retail upgrade (upgraded from
Genuine Windows XP Home w/ SP2 retail 4 days after installation)

I also forgot to say that when I switch between programs through Flip3D in
this state, the switched-out program is no longer usable and must be closed
through Task Manager.
Needless to say, this is very annoying.

2 screensnips that show the scrambled taskbar are at
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...fly/Image5.jpg
and
http://i150.photobucket.com/albums/s...fly/Image4.jpg

Update:
The issue described above also happens with Windows Aero disabled. In this
instance, the taskbar ends up at the top of the screen and the desktop
wallpaper is dark. If anyone else's experiencing this issue and have a
solution (without reinstalling Windows or using one of my 2 MS tech support
calls), it would be greatly appreciated.

same problem here.
Running full version (not OEM) of Ultimate.

Taskbar got messed up a few times -- can't click anything. Can,t even get to
shut down button. Had to shut down manually. Not sure what sequence of
things is .... Will keep tracking .

For me, it looks as though the RMClock utility is causing the problem for me.
There are no updates available to this program as I write this.

i have the exact same problem and ares is causing the problem, if i open
it then like 5 to 10 minutes later its starts flickering and i have to
restart the computer, i read somewhere else that installing an older
version of ares might not give you problem.

and i just ran across this 'The Windows desktop may stop updating
correctly after a Windows Vista-based computer has been running for an
extended period of time' (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932406/en-us)

Yea I have the same exact problem. The taskbar will mess up and you
cant click on anything. All the programs that are running in the taskbar
will go behind the start button and then the taskbar will start
highlighting and unhighlighting. I have to restart it to fix the problem
but a couple of days later it will do it again. I have a desktop and I
just bought a laptop the other day and they both have Vista on them. The
desktop is about 6 months old and it has done it every since I got it.
Well I bought a new laptop about 3 days ago and it has Vista on it too
and, of course, it is doing the same exact thing as my desktop so I know
it is Vista. Maybe Microsoft will come out with an update that will fix
this problem because its beginning to piss me off since I now have two
computers that do it.

mine was caused because i had ares installed. i just switched back to
windows xp maybe i'll switch back when it gets more stable, i tried
ubuntu and it was pretty good but im not ready for it either. good lck

[REALfreaky]

I'm 99% sure that this is caused by Ares (at least for me).

I haven't tried Microsoft's fixes yet, though.
Microsoft's fix for Windows Vista
Microsoft's fix for Windows Vista for x64-based Systems

I have the EXACT same problem too. It happend THE VERY FIRST TIME I TURNED ON
MY LAPTOP and it happens everyday after that. I called to troubleshoot with
HPs technical support he had me make a new user account he said that will fix
the problem...guess what he was WRONG Im still having the same issue. it
pisses me off too

Did you try this fix?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/932406/en-us
After a Windows Vista-based computer has been running for an extended period of time, the
desktop screen may stop updating correctly. For example, you may experience any of the
following symptoms:
- Parts of the screen may go black.
- Parts of the screen may become transparent.
- The toolbar may disappear.
- The toolbar may appear at the top of the screen instead of at the bottom of the screen.

The download to the fix;

Update for Windows Vista 32 bit
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...9-18DADC49348A

Update for Windows Vista for x64-based systems
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/d...3-BA711CA5BD14

[moncul]

I'm having this problem *today*. I *used* to have this problem all the time, but then it apparently got fixed. But recently i've been experiencing the problem again. The KB update "does not apply" to my system.

I'm running windows vista home premium, and i applied SP2 just recently (to try and fix the issue, but it did not).