if i am away from my keyboard for about 5 minutes and not scrolling or typing , something happens to windows and all the text size on the web pages gets small and i can’t adjust the size-i have to reboot and then it all works ok and i can adjust the size again-is there some setting in windows to remedy this?
Apparently it disables your caps and period keys, too. But, to answer the question … I dunno. I’ve never heard of anything like this before. Try this if you have a MS wheelmouse. Hold down the CTRL key and rotate the wheel either way. This is supposed to increase/decrease font size.
Hey that’s cool!
I had no idea my wheelmouse could do that!
Thanks UncleBeer!
>> Hold down the CTRL key and rotate the wheel either way
NEAT!!! 
Didn’t know that font-sizing stunt with the Wheel Mouse. (God forbid I read the documentation.)
FYI, that wheelmouse trick only works in IE, not Netscape.
This could be a screensaver that’s forcing a different mode and windows isn’t recovering correctly.
Try disabling your screensaver and see if this fixes the problem (just a guess since it takes 5 mins inactivity for the problem to show). If not, I’m betting on a trojan and someone screwing with your mind 
Thanks, Geobabe. Being the slave to B. Gates that I am, I wasn’t aware of the Netscape issue. By the way, the wheel trick works in Excel, Word and Powerpoint also.