OK, I'll start from the begining. When I start the 'puter, it opens to google Email. That's nice, but there is no option to open a Home page. so there is no line at the top with address's and all the other stuff. So I have lost being able to click on the places I always go to.
It sounds almost like a web browser popup that never went away -- or is maybe being retriggered by a setting in your registry. It's certainly not supposed to pop up until you open your web browser and ask it to, and I agree that the crippled popup version of the web browser is kind of useless. You could try checking the Startup tab in msconfig to see if something to do with a web browser is checked:
Click the Start button in the lower left of your screen. Type
msconfig
in the Start Search and click the Enter key of your keyboard.
At this point you may get a UAC prompt asking for your password. Give it the password and msconfig should start up.
Select the startup tab.
You should see a list of things with checkboxes beside them. If you see anything related to your web browser or email program, uncheck the box and OK the change. It will probably prompt you to reboot after you make changes. Reboot and see if the Desktop appears without the crippled webpage.
If you manage to get rid of the crippled web browser window opening when you start the computer, try starting IE and see if it has all your menus the way you like them.
I get a Home page with FireFox, but the words are so tiny I have to use a large magnant to see them. When I try to reset the size, it jumps so large only part of the page can be seen, and I have to scroll back and forth and up and down, therefore it's a pain in the you know what.
If you're using Firefox, you can make the print bigger by holding down the Control key of your keyboard and pressing the + key (or you can hold down the Control Key and Shift key and press the = key)
There's a page here of keyboard shortcuts for Firefox
http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/keyboard-shortcuts-perform-firefox-tasks-quicklyWhen I use this method of zooming, Firefox "remembers" to zoom on this particular page the next time I visit.
I fiddle with the settings and that's when I'm told to use my Tools. Not being able to find Tools anywhere on the lists of programs, I mumble bad words over and over.
I think they must mean the Tools in the web browser you're using. You wouldn't be scrolling back and forth and up and down on your Desktop.
The way to get Tools to appear in IE by default is different from the way to do it in Firefox. In IE9, you have to either use gpedit.msc (not available with Win 7 Home, but available in Pro and Ultimate) or you have to use a registry edit (either perform the edit manually or use a script).
***This site*** tells you how to do the registry edit, and also provides a link to a .zip file that contains a script that will make the change for you. The zip file will extract to a folder with two files:
Enable Menu Bar.reg
and
Disable Menu Bar.reg
So to enable your menu bar in IE, you'd open the zip file and double click (or right-click and choose "Run As Administrator) the Enable Menu Bar.reg file to run it.
The other file (Disable Menu Bar.reg) is if you want to switch it back to the way it was before (invisible menu bar) for some reason.
I'm unsure if this requires a reboot or not, but if the menu doesn't appear in IE after running the Enable Menu Bar.reg file, try rebooting the computer.