Maximized MDI child windows

I have two problems, that I believe may be related. They both concern MDI windows being opened in a maximized state.

The first problem is exhibited by most MDI applications. Open an application with one MDI child window (Visual Studio will do it, so will a minimum App Wizard MDI application) Minimize and maximize and the MDI child. Now open a new MDI child window. The new child will open maximized. What I find odd is that when you restore the new child (i.e. Alt-Minus R) the old child behind it has been minimized.

The second problem, the real problem is as follows... A child MDI is minimized and maximized and then a second child MDI is opened. The new child is maximized, however there are two icons for the window to the left of the menu and to the right of the menu there are two sets of the control buttons. Using the inner set of icon and control buttons causes the application to lock up. The application will just about cling onto life, such that you can close it down cleanly.

Is anyone else troubled by this or have some kind of solution. The troublesome code was written by someone else, I notice that at some point I've denied users the ability to open new maximized child MDI windows!

I'm using Windows NT 4.00.1381 with IE 4.0.4.72.311.8.