Taskbar, start menu get weird and unusable

[godsballs]

I'm on a newly installed Linux Mint 17.1, but this has actually happened to me on version 15 as well.

After a while of use, for reasons I do not comprehend, the taskbar and start menu get all effed up (also, rainbows up, screwed up, messed up, weird, psychedelic, mosaic, pixelated, unusable, glitchy, for potential googlers). Look: http://i.imgur.com/AgdtyGr.png

I reset my machine when that happens. What should I do?

[xenopeek]

Looks like graphics glitches, can be caused by a problem in your graphics stack. Most likely your graphics card driver. You can find Driver Manager in your menu, see if it shows any alternative graphics card drivers. Commonly with some graphics cards Cinnamon may need the proprietary driver (built by the manufacturer) instead of the default open source one (built by the community).

[godsballs]

Ah, thanks. I'll try using the nvidia-331, which as it turns out is the "recommended" choice. My graphics card is GeForce 8800 GT, by the way. If the glitching returns I'll come back here to tell you about it.

Thanks again!

[godsballs]

So apparently the nvidia driver has been causing serious problems with video playback in VLC. I didn't know that's what it was, so it took me a bit of blood sweat and reboots to figure it out. Apparently the proprietary drivers are no good with my old graphics card. Now I'm just happy to be back with the Nouveau driver, which has been very good to me, except for this little thing in the OP here.