scrambled desktops - again, and again, and again

[rikona]

Running 12.04 Ubuntu, updated. With a number of pgms - various LOffice
[esp with ppt files], audacity, etc, some [usually file] operation -
opening, closing, saving etc - ends up scrambling all the desktops.
Almost **every** window gets sent to a different desktop in what seems
to be a random way. Also, once that starts, if i try to minimize or
change a window, it also gets sent to another desktop, but not
minimized. This seems to set Ubuntu in a fragile state, so even trying
to save what I was doing causes Ubuntu to close a random instance of,
for example, Opera, editor, or another pgm. I can't even save the
state I was in so I can continue after a reboot. I am losing a LOT of
work with this!!! Anybody else seen this? Any idea what happened? Most
important, how might I get this to stop? Which logs might give useful
info?

Many thanks for a fix...

 rikona