I think Linux retains old configuration files in case you re-install a program after un-installing it and want to use your old preferences. That means there could be several old ones lying around, and possibly there is duplication with different distributions doing things differently. What would be good would be an application that compares installed applications and configuration files, lists all configuration files that are no longer in use and asks if you want to delete them. I think that could sort out several sorts of problems because you could uninstall something, delete all related configuration files, then re-install it.

I suppose this you could do it by re-installing packages, then removing them with:
I'm sure someone will tell me if this is a load of nonsense.....

I didn't read this thread in detail, but you don't use Compiz, do you?

Let me know if you dó use Compiz.

Not now, but a while ago I was using Ubuntu and didn't get on with Unity. I found a webpage that showed a way to get something like Gnome2. Here are some relevant (but probably not all the necessary) commands:
This wasn't completely successful.

I like a 'grown-up' desktop, but since I was messing about with it anyway, I thought I'd try (and probably discard) the Compiz Cube and so on. Here are some relevant (but probably not all the necessary) commands:
It never worked properly and was a pain in the proverbial. Even the Gnome-session-fallback wasn't really sucessful, so I tried a few other distributions before deciding that Debian was what I wanted.

I think it's likely that all this swapping around, and Compiz in particular, messed up my configuration files.

My assessment is that Compiz still starts but that it is not configured properly. In that case, and if you don't use it, removing Compiz should solve this problem.

Thanks, but I do not think Compiz can still be running as I have already used Software Centre to remove anything that mentioned Compiz and from /home/chris I have deleted any directories and files that start .compiz

I have just installed the latest version of Debian with LXDE on my old laptop. I have never used Compiz on it.

It works ok, but isn't all that attractive and videos won't play properly, (I accept that - it is a very limited laptop), but in order to try and make the most of it I added a panel at the top to make it look a bit more like my Debian/Gnome2 PC and since the login gives other Dektop Environment options I tried XFCE (it's a bit prettier) and Openbox (it's minimal).

The title bars disappeared! I then deleted the configuration files suggested above by ShadowCat8 and the title bars are back.

I think we are a little closer to identifying the cause now as it's got to be one of the above three causes - using XFCE, using Openbox or adding extra panels.

Perhaps the configuration file deletion fix didn't work on my PC (orginal post) because there were other files elsewhere?


(I have also installed wireless card firmware, Synaptic, Network Manager and Google Chrome.)