Nvidia restricted driver = invisible menus when using VNC

"I found a couple posts on other forums describing similar problems (here's one on KDE forums, here's one on xubuntu).

If you're using the stock ""Remote Desktop"" option in Ubuntu, this is a known conflict between VNC and the Compiz desktop effects, and you'll have to turn off the pretty desktop effects to get the VNC to work.

However, you might try a couple of things before totally giving up.

Replace VNC with NoMachine NX (there is a free version available). It's a bit of a resource hog on the client end but works well, and may allow you to see your desktop effects properly.
Replace the built-in VNC (vino?) with something like x11vnc. Performance might improve enough to be usable. (I think someone on the KDE forums linked above had some success with this route.) In Ubuntu 9.04, you'll install the ""x11vnc"" package.
Run a separate VNC Xserver using minimal desktop effects. This would NOT give you VNC access to the Xserver displaying on your TV -- instead, it gives you a VNC-only second desktop. Depending on what exactly you're doing, this might work well. (It might also be a deal-breaker.) You need one of the ""vnc4server"" or ""tightvncserver"" packages for this. (See this question for tips on configuring the second display.)
Replace VNC with XRDP (package ""xrdp""), an open-source stab at MS Remote Desktop. I'm not sure if this package gives you access to the current display or creates a new one, but it might work for you."

"This continues to be a problem in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. The recommended NVidia driver version from the Hardware Drivers GUI is 195.36.24 as of Feb 2011. The release notes for x86 driver version 256.35 state:

Fixed an interaction problem between Compiz and 'screen-scraping' VNC servers like x11vnc and vino that caused the screen to stop updating. Fixes Launchpad bug #353126.

Note that the Launchpad bug states this does not affect Intel chipsets.
You can try installing drivers from NVidia's website. After downloading the drivers, make sure you make the installation script executable (right click the file, go to Properties, then the Permissions tab, and check the box ""Allow executing file as a program"").
Now, before you can run the script successfully you need to turn off XServer. Before you do that, move to a terminal outside of your GUI. You can do this locally with CTRL+ALT+F1 or just SSH in remotely. Then run:

sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop
sudo sh ~/Downloads/NVIDIA-Linux-[press tab, then enter]

When the script runs you can pretty much answer Yes to all questions, then when done do:

sudo reboot

If all goes well your VNC will now work properly."