Arduino IDE interface broken

[NinjaTuna]

Hello,
I recently purchased an Arduino Uno to play around with, did some small things yet, but the interface is broken most of the time, so I'm not able to code anything.
When I'm moving my mouse trough the menu strange things start to happen to the interface. Elements begin overlapping like this:

The screenshot is from the Wiring IDE, however the exact same thing happens in Arduino IDE.

This is making it very hard to do anything with the Arduino and I have no idea what causes the problem. I tried reinstalling Java, but no luck. I also tried the Wiring IDE, and the same problem occurs...

I hope someone can help me with this!

[eried]

What if you rename the java folder inside wiring files? to something like "__java"

[NinjaTuna]

When I use Arduino/Wiring without a java folder in the installation directory I only get a splash screen and then the program shuts down.

Edit: I have reinstalled Java and now both Wiring and Arduino start without a java folder in their installation directories, however the original distorted interface problem persists...

[dxw00d]

Does this happen on any other application?

[NinjaTuna]

I've never encountered it before...

[KirAsh4]

When you re-installed Java, did you by any chance removed all Java and related components from your system first?  Sometimes simply reinstalling it over an old installation does not clear the problem.

[NinjaTuna]

I think I have been thorough enough in my attempts to remove Java. I used JavaRa, searched my entire PC for any reference to Java, and even wiped every entry in my registry that was associated to Java. But still, no luck, the problem persists...

[dxw00d]

It looks like an interaction problem between Java and your graphics card driver. Is that up to date?

[The Clever Monkey]

Hello,
I recently purchased an Arduino Uno to play around with, did some small things yet, but the interface is broken most of the time, so I'm not able to code anything.
When I'm moving my mouse trough the menu strange things start to happen to the interface. Elements begin overlapping like this:

The screenshot is from the Wiring IDE, however the exact same thing happens in Arduino IDE.

Looks like 2D corruption.  Try setting

sun.java2d.noddraw=true

on the VM that launches the IDE. I forget how exactly to do this on Windows, sorry! But you need to add "-Dsun.java2d.noddraw=true" to the list of VM options and restart.

[NinjaTuna]

My video drivers are updated.

For Wiring, I tried creating a wiring.vmoptions file containing

-Dsun.java2d.opengl=true
-Dsun.java2d.d3d=false
-Dsun.java2d.noddraw=true

as stated here and here. I cannot find anything more on the subject so I do not know if this information is entirely correct and applicable...
It did not solve my problem.

[The Clever Monkey]

My video drivers are updated.

For Wiring, I tried creating a wiring.vmoptions file containing

-Dsun.java2d.opengl=true
-Dsun.java2d.d3d=false
-Dsun.java2d.noddraw=true

as stated here and here. I cannot find anything more on the subject so I do not know if this information is entirely correct and applicable...
It did not solve my problem.

Actually sun.java2d.noddraw is Windows only (as is sun.java2d.d3d). What platform are you running things on? Oh, and I wouldn't enable OpenGL while trying to solve this.

Another likely Windows tweak is:

sun.java2d.ddoffscreen=false

[NinjaTuna]

I'm on Win7 Enterprise 64bit and I'm not entirely sure how to set these tweaks you speak of. Is a .vmoptions correct way to do it?