Closing Excel 2003 from Taskbar opens multiple pop-ups / dialogue boxes. Any ideas?

[fumblingaround]

Hello

I believe this problem to be Excel-related as it occurs when I try to minimise or close an Excel window from the Taskbar. I'm running Office Professional 2003 and WinXP Pro on a Vaio N-Series laptop.

It seems to occur when I have several workbooks open, and I right-click on one of them in the Taskbar to close it. Immediately I get LOADS of windows popping up, some empty and without "close" buttons, and other items such as dropdown menus from other apps e.g.
- Google Searchbar (disembodied from the Search bar itself
- URLs previously accessed in IE7 (again, floating on the screen, no browser window attached...)

I also get lots of dialogue boxes and pop-ups from iTunes if that is open e.g. Equalizer, Remote Speakers...

I think it might be a System tray error because the windows that pop up seem related to what is in there e.g.
- My Nod32 antivirus software
- Vaio Power Management
- RAPIMgr - which I understand to be for Microsoft ActiveSync
- Windows Live Messenger
- Outlook

But to be honest I am stumped

I've attached screengrabs of my Taskbar and Task Manager after the problem occurs.

Each time it happens (it's becoming a daily occurrence as I am a number-cruncher) I have to search for the windows containing unsaved work, save it, and then restart. I haven't managed to just close down the windows that popped up uninvited - mainly because I can't tell what most of them actually are...

Any ideas?