New Mail notification comes up minimized

This appears to happen on 3 new(er) systems. 2 are running Windows
Xp/Office 2002, 1 is running Windows 2000/Office 2000. The users in this network have always
used Office 97 and when a new message arrived no matter what app was running
in the foreground (usually Word) a message box would pop up in front giving
a new mail notication and asking if you would like to read (Yes/No). Now
the message only appears minimized in the task bar and the message icon in
the systray. And it is not because they are pushing it to the background
immediately. So if I open Outlook then open Word. I then walk away from my
machine, a person sends a message. The new message notification box is in
the task bar so it is minimized. The only way to bring it to the front is
clicking on it in the task bar. Obviously the complaints about it exist, for it is a "travesty and they can't live without it ;) .I went into Options
to ensure "Display notification message box" was checked.

The only thing that was suggested so far was to maximize the notification then close Outlook, reopen Outlook and then the problem would be solved. This did not work.

Then it was suggested to reinstall Outlook, now that may be it if it were just one workstation having the problem but it consistently happens on any Outlook 2000+ or atleast the 3 that have been added.

My only other thought would be perhaps not just a client software issue but a client/server one???????

The network is using Exchange 5.5 running on NT server 4.0. Now as I said all machines using Outlook 97 have no problems with notification popping up.
So if an individual doesn't have an answer could you maybe confirm or deny that this could be it. Just looking that maybe somebody out there has a similiar setup and can report similiar problems or even report no such problems. It would be helpful information either way.

THanks, Have a Good Day.