# Font change in Windows **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 19, 2006, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/font-change-in-windows/369337 "2006-08-19T13:39:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2006, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/font-change-in-windows/369337/1 "2006-08-19T13:39:29Z")
Okay, I’m not exactly sure what’s going on here, and I searched “font” and “language” in the sticky and didn’t see anything. On our home computer we have four users set up, one for each of us. We have our favorites, etc, set up under each user’s profile. This morning, Ivylad signed off and I signed on to pay bills. Somehow, the fonts on all the icons and in the internet display changed to some weird font. I think it’s Wingdings but my son says isn’t. He says it looks like what happens when your printer goes wonky and prints out some weird stuff instead of what you’re trying to print. Of course, I can’t understand it so I can’t see where to go to change it back to English. The language is English when I go to websites, so I paid my bills and searched Google, but even in Google, when I type in the search field to figure out the problem, the font typed out as Possible Wingdings or Screwed Up Printer. In SDMB, when I go to preview a thread by hovering over the title, the preview page is in Possible Wingdings or Screwed Up Printer. I can go into the thread and read it fine. The font letters are a series of dots, triangles, ///, squares, x’s, ?, tiny checkmarks, etc. What the hell have I done? Yes, we’ve restarted and turned off and turned back on, and we’ve run RegCure, Spyware Doctor, and AdAware SE. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2006, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/font-change-in-windows/369337/2 "2006-08-19T22:17:15Z")
Lucy!!! :dubious: Do you move or remove any fonts from it’s proper folder? ☹ This happenned once to me when I tried exporting fonts from one computer to another. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/font-change-in-windows/369337/3 "2006-08-20T05:07:33Z")
Try going to **Tools|Internet Options** , click the **Languages** button at the bottom, and make sure English is at the top of the list. Also go to **View|Encoding** and make sure **Auto-Select** is checked. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/font-change-in-windows/369337/4 "2006-08-20T19:18:44Z")
> [@Number](#): > > Try going to **Tools|Internet Options** , click the **Languages** button at the bottom, and make sure English is at the top of the list. It does. > [@](#): > > Also go to **View|Encoding** and make sure **Auto-Select** is checked. If we can figure out which of the gobbeldygook icons is View, we’ll try that. I’ll call Ivylad from work tomorrow and walk him through it from my computer. The funny thing is, if I cut the gobbledygook, it pastes correctly, so I can’t get a screen shot for you. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2006, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/font-change-in-windows/369337/5 "2006-08-20T21:11:12Z")
If you’re running XP, the simplest solution is probably to run a System Restore. It’s under **Start|Programs|Accessories|System Tools**. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2006, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/font-change-in-windows/369337/6 "2006-08-21T12:29:22Z")
Well, we found a more radical solution. It seems every time Microsoft runs an automatic update, it crashes the computer. Ivylad and Ivyboy have rebuilt the hard drive (?) to fix it, and also turned off automatic updates.