CS6.0 & CS5.5 Master Collection InDesign Font Control bar & Characters Panel not Functioning

Question

Hi, I am a college student and our college a year ago sent me CS5.5 Master Collection InDesign at that time the font control bar was not functioning correctly on my PC. Our class was about Adobe Illustrator so our instructor rather than deal with it had us just cut and paste things into MS Word.
Now a year and half later I am taking a college course in Adobe Photoshop . . CS6.0 Master Collection InDesign once again the collection is the Student and Teacher Licensing for Windows.  The same thing is happening now we are REQUIRED to this semester to create a Calendar using our own photos and create a INDESIGN layout using our photos we took for our course.  In this version of CS6.0 InDesign I figured they would of fixed it by now, but the "Control Panel is still not working, nor is the Character Panel that you pull up to the side of InDesign. I am able to use the pull down menus and do things from there, but the point of taking this course was to learn the software, how can we students use the software if it is not functioning properly.
NOTE I AM EXPERIENCEING THE SAME THING WITH ALL SIDE PANELS NOW TOO.
Oh yes it changes the font name when you use the pull down window from the top menu, but it is not allowing us to use the CONTROL BAR just under the MENU BAR, nor the side panel I pulled up and am showing there. In ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR I can use the character panel just fine, but not in InDesign.
In Illustrator when I go to launch it I get this error, I have done as it asked but it still is bring this up at launch. I can go in and use Illustrator just fine, except for this error.
Someone thought I may of installed it incorrectly, so I removed all ADOBE software from my computer ran maintenance and virus scans and reinstalled the software, a whole day wasted, but it still is doing the same thing.
a) Thinking that this is a limitation placed on the software by Adobe because it is a Student Teacher Edition?
b) There's a problem with having OpenType and TrueType fonts on hand?
c) Adobe has a software problem that they have yet to resolve?
d) There is something somewhere within the software I need to flip a switch on?
Our instructor I gather who owns his own business his works just fine on his PC, but then because it is his business software it makes me think it has to do with the Student Teacher Edition.
I have more than enough RAM and hard drive space the Processor is a AMD A8-3800 APU with Radeon(tm) HD. Graphics is 2.40 GHz. It is a 64-bit Operating System. Oh I am using a Windows OS 7.0 Professional .
This is the only piece of software that I have come accross that will not function correctly on my computer system since it's purchase Jan of 2012.

Answer 1

There is no difference between the commercial and educattional versions of the products other than the license terms. The software itself is the same.
Since you are on windows 7, the first question is are you using large fonts in the Windows interface? Large fonts combined with an Aero theme are deadly to ID. See InDesign tools and panels don't respond to mouse clicks (Windows 7/Vista)
If this doesn't apply, the next thing to try is replacing your preferences. See Replace Your Preferences
Do you use a font manager? If so, which one?
Does the account you are using have adminsitrator privileges? Shouldn't matter, but it would be worth trying a new account that does.
It's still possible that the installation failed in some way. That Illustrator error certainly makes it look like a strong possibility, and there may have been some left-over crud from the first failed install that was not replaced the second time. If the things above don't clear up the problems, I would suggest Deactivating the suite from an applicatin that will open, and uninstalling again, then run the cleaner tool (CS Cleaner Tool for installation problems | CCM, CS6, CS5.5, CS5, CS4, CS3) which will remove all traces of the previous installations. Reboot, then before reinstalling run MSConfig and turn off all non-essential startup programs and services, especially any virus or maware scanners, third-party firewall, instant messengers, iTunes and all browser helpers and toolbars, then close MSconfig and reboot. Log in as an Administrator (the actual Adminsitrator account would be best, but it may not be turned on). When the warning comes up about diagnostic mode continue to boot (cancel MSConfig if it opens), then run the installer again. You can now run MSconfig to restore normal startup and reboot once more.