mystery numbers in black box on computer screen

[mdklassen]

>   Please expand on the comment of possibly inadvertantly activating something.

Start the game, and look within its menu pull-downs for something like "settings", to see if there is something that can you "unset".

Otherwise, in Windows 7:

* click Start button

* click All Programs

* click Accessories

* click Ease of Access

to view/set/unset things like "Narrator" and "Magnifier".

[mcqueenn]

I'm not running Windows 7, I'm running Windows 8.

[mdklassen]

> I'm not running Windows 7, I'm running Windows 8.

Windows 8 or Windows 8.1 ?

The same principle applies -- use "Settings" in Windows 8 to access the "Ease Of Access" window.

[mcqueenn]

OK I'm running Windows 8.1. There's nothing in the game settings that would address the issue. I don't remember ever seeing the "Ease of Access" window, so I'm fairly certain that I didn't do something that would affect that page, unless you can do something without actually accessing that page. When I bring up the "Turn Windows Features on and off" page, there isn't a "games" section of the tree. Still mostly puzzled why this phenomenon would pop up all of a sudden on a game I've been playing on the computer for at least 5 years.  

[mdklassen]

>  I'm fairly certain that I didn't do something that would affect that page,

> unless you can do something without actually accessing that page.

Yes, you can.

For users needing to enable some of the "Ease Of Access" features, all they need to do is to hold down the SHIFT key for several seconds.  Very easy to do so for people who have different physical abilities -- no need to access that page.

[mcqueenn]

OK I accept that there is a "possibility" that something I did inadvertantly may have caused this issue, but based on the "Ease of Access" I don't think that is the source of the problem. There's nothing on that page that appears to have any relevance to the problem, and nothing changes on the page whether the game is installed or not. The only thing remotely pertinent, the "start up settings" have no boxes checked, so there's nothing to uncheck. As stated earlier, the boxes don't show up if I uninstall the game, and only the upper right hand corner box shows up unless I bring up the game on the screen, then there are boxes in both upper corners. I have further found that if I don't uninstall the game, but close it and reboot, the boxes don't reappear unless I open the game. But, if I leave the game running (whether it's minimized or up on the screen), if I reboot, the boxes reappear. I've pretty much resigned myself to the fact that this issue is unresolvable (without spending unwarranted money), so my continued interest is now essentially an academic one. I'd still like to fix the problem, but if it can't be fixed, I'll just have to accept playing a different, and less satisfying version of solitaire.