Visual Studio 2010 - Tool Bars, intellisense, server explorer, etc not working reliably

Something has gone wrong with my installation of Visual Studio 2010. The symptoms are:

1. Toolb开发者_StackOverflow中文版ars: buttons that should be enabled, given the context, are disabled. Eg: the step into button for debugging is greyed out when the project is being debugged. I have to use F11 and F10. Or the Run button is disabled, and to run I have to key F5. Etc.

2. Intellisense: Not working. When debugging, I mouseover a variable to see its value, the tip flickers and disappears.

3. Server Explorer: On and off, won't allow me to drag tables onto a Linq to SQL design surface.

4. Dialogues: Buttons often don't work. But not always...

5. All other programs work fine, except for SQL Server 2008 Management Studio, where symptom 4. is also apparent.

Questions

a. Has anyone seen this behaviour? b. Does anyone know the cause? c. Does anyone know the solution? d. Is this the right place to ask the question?

Edit

Minimizing and Restoring Visual Studio reenables the correct command buttons

Edit 2

Have just remembered that, every now and then in the last couple of months, Visual Studio has complained about an add in causing an exception. Is it worth uninstalling all add ins to see what happens or go for the blitz?

t 2

Have you tried uninstalling VisualStudio and then installing it again? It looks like the install is pretty badly screwed up.

Sounds as if you need to reinstall as Joel said above, but it might be worth resetting all settings first just incase. Tools-> Import and Export Settings-> Reset all settings, see if that helps