[nflug] GNOME problems

[K O]

Folks:

I'm having a problem with GNOME on my laptop.  I have lost the title bar 
in my apps, not allowing even moving their windows, as well as the 
ability to switch desktops.  (My pre-defined keystrokes don't work, and 
the applet in the panel is not visible.)  If it matters, then it's a 
Fedora 7 system.
1.	This happened after a boot from a cold start.
2.	No updates were performed during the last successful boot.
3.	KDE comes up fine.
4.	GNOME under a different username comes up fine.
5.	I ran yum to update.  No visible results.
6.	I uninstalled and reinstalled gnome-panel and all dependencies. 
Again, no visible results.
7.	I booted off an Ubuntu cd and ran fsck.  No errors.
8.	Windows appear in the upper left hand corner on top of the panel.
9.	Mouse pointer position determines active windows.  I didn't have this 
option selected before.
10.	The window list will show the app as it's being launched, then 
disappears once it's running.
11,	I've tried different themes with the same result.

Also, something I feel worth mentioning is that after upgrading to 
Fedora 7, a 2 cm ^2 patch in the upper left hand of the screen appears. 
  It almost looks like an area of inverted colors.  That area is 
accessible (tho unseen), and disappears after a minute or 2.  Again, 
this does not happen under a different username, or KDE.  Also, GNOME 
has been a bit flaky under Fedora 6, but there was nothing a relogin 
didn't usually fix.  Not so now.

I don't really know where to begin.  I don't even know how to google 
this one.  All I suspect for now is that some config file within the 
home directory got borked.  I could really use a snausage to get me in 
the right direction.  (My dog could use a snausage too, but here pure 
people food lust is at play.)  As always, I thank you kindly for 
whatever you can tell me to help.