So, some (good? but at least interesting) news:
The version of the Intel GMA Drivers affects whether
the bad behavior happens.
These are GMA (Graphics Media Accelerator) drivers
for Windows 7 / Vista x64 for the Intel 4 Series Express
chipset. The releases are numbers 8.15.10.nnnn, where
nnnn is what I will use to distinguish each one.
2202 (most recent) fails
2189 (latest send around by Windows Update) fails
2182 I have not yet tested
2104 works!
2021 probably also works (did before), but not explicitly tested
The good thing is that I can now work with less
annoyance. The bad thing is that I can't use the
latest drivers.
Let me know if there is anything I can do to help push
XWin forward in handling whatever "new" it is that the
Intel drivers are doing.