Alphabet is gone, only sysmbols now

[amipup]

Not sure how or why, but all my alphabetical letters are gone from my desk
top, explorere, etc. and in place are symbols like ?x(and symbols I can't
make right now like squares, triangles, check marks, etc.) Since I can't
read anything, it's hard to get around in here now. However my browser still
works in letters thank goodness.
Help please. Thank you.

 

[Bill Blanton]

Start by checking your language settings.
Control Panel > Regional and Language options.

 

[amipup]

Ok, I checked my settings, however everything is in wierd symbols so I can't
read which language is selected. I believe I have the 24th line down
selected and hope that's English.
I did try some other lines, but nothing changed on the computer, still all
symbols.
Any other ideas? I really need to fix this and have no idea what to do.
Thanks for your response Bill, I do appreciate it.

 

[John John (MVP)]

See if the information here can help:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919752

John

 

[amipup]

John, thank you so much for that link...it sounds exactly like what has
happened to me and I had just done updates too.
My problem now is that when I get to the registry I can't read anything to
find the various catagories. Could someone please guide me, as in tell me
how many folders down (in the registry) the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE is. Then
under that how many lines down the SOFTWARE is, then how many lines down
under that the Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion is, etc.. Then to do the
following steps, again I need to know the number of lines down things are to
do this: Expand CurrentVersion, and verify that the Fonts registry subkey is
present.
If the Fonts registry subkey is missing, create a new subkey. To do this,
follow these steps:
On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click Key.
Type Fonts, and then press ENTER.
Exit Registry Editor.
If someone is willing to do this for me I would really appreciate it, as it
doesn't seem I can fix things otherwise.
Again, thanks John for the link to the site.

 

[Bob Lucas]

The KB article at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919752
describes an alternative way to edit the registry.

Go to the paragraph that starts "If the default Windows display
font is a symbol font such as Wingdings or Webdings, you may not
be able to use steps 1 through 9. In this case, follow these
steps: ..."

The KB article does not explain how to create the registry edit
file - when your computer does display normal fonts. I suggest
you use a different computer to create the registry edit file.
Transfer the file to a USB thumb drive and insert the thumb drive
into the problem computer. Then, run the REG file from the USB
thumb drive.

 

[amipup]

Thank you Bob, I used the second one as you suggested and it worked finally.
Took me a while as I couldn't find the save, etc. under file, as those were
all in symbols too. But finally got it figured out by trial and error.
Sincerely, thank you all for your input and assistance. I really do
appreciate your efforts and time.

 

[amipup]

Thank you Bob, thank you so much for your suggestion to use the alternative
method, it finally got things fixed for me. It took me a while as I couldn't
read anything under File...it was all symbols too. Finally trial and error
worked.
A sincere thank you to everyone who offered suggestions and assistance. I
really do appreciate all your efforts and time.

 

[Bob Lucas]

You're welcome. I'm glad it worked.

Thank you Bob, thank you so much for your suggestion to use the
alternative
method, it finally got things fixed for me. It took me a while
as I couldn't
read anything under File...it was all symbols too. Finally
trial and error
worked.
A sincere thank you to everyone who offered suggestions and
assistance. I
really do appreciate all your efforts and time.