Internet explorer and information bar

Hello,
I am running windows xp professional with sp3 (on 2 machines which were set up the same way). When I go to the bitdefender website to run the online scan and click on start scan the information bar will pop up but when I click on the bar to select an option nothing appears but a little box saying information bar. This has been happening with ie8 so I uninstalled it and the same thing was happening with ie6. I then tried installing ie7 and still the same thing. So I tried all the different information on changing the settings in IE so that it would allow the active x install but nothing has helped. I then started doing some more searching and came across some information at this link http://forums.techarena.in/windows-update/1108801.htm regarding active x and tried those steps as well but that did not help either. The odd thing is that the other pc running windows xp professional with sp3 is not having any problems with the active x - in fact I never even get the information bar asking me to select the option to install the active x - it is already installed.

I have tried uninstalling IE8 and reinstalling it. I have tried uninstalling IE8 again and installing IE7 instead but that didn't help either. Anyone have any idea why I cannot right click on the information bar and see the options available to me ?

TIA