Problem entering data into IE7 & Windows Mail on Vista

On Windows Vista - problem just started happening. when I go to
Internet Explorer 7 and go to an entry box in a window such as
entering a search request, I get the I-bar but can't click in the box
- no insertion bar. Address box works ok. Same problem in Windows
Mail. If I do a reply to an existing email, all the controls for
changing font etc are greyed out and I can't click into the area to
enter the message. I can enter the subject etc. I even tried turning
Windows mail to allow just entry of plain text but to no avail.

I did a full reset if IE7 but didn't solve the problem. Also went into
safe mode - still same situation.

I installed Firefox and it works just fine, so I can work around the
browser, but the Windows mail is needed. Any ideas?