Wingding 'type' problem

Hi Folks,

A few weeks ago, I had the Wingding ‘type’ phenomena that I now know has been around for a while.

Most of the forum readers who try to help, say “do a restore”, which whilst it does work, is very difficult to do when all your words & characters are in symbol form – unreadable. I did manage this though, which fixed it – for the time.

I did a little research & it seems that when this effects us, it’s usually after downloading something or updating something – quite innocently. In my case, it was the latter. With my limited knowledge of problems, I don’t think the actual program is a factor, as it can be quite a few, reputable programs that can cause it to occur.

I had updated Malwarebytes, & thought nothing of it until booting up the following day, when all was in symbol form. After the restore I thought all was well & this had been a ‘one-off’.
Like a twerp, I ran the offered update on Malwarebytes again last week & got the same problem again.

I run Malwarebytes, Essential security & Comodo. None of them come up with anything: virus, Trojan etc.

In desperation, I contacted Malwarebytes, who have been helpful, but deny knowing, or hearing about the problem.

I am calling this problem ‘Wingdings’ but I’m not 100% certain that it is actually wingdings - rather something very similar - though I might be proven wrong.

I have now seen a couple of temporary fixes in these pages, but I can’t find out:
1/ what actually causes it
2/ how to effect a permanent fix.

Obviously, in my case, I need to update Malwarebytes as & when and other readers will need to update their own programs.


Has this been sorted please ?

cheers

Hello tommy3, I don't know if this was tried. Go to Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Fonts\Font settings and click the "Restore default font settings" and check the box for "Hide fonts based on language settings". Hopefully this will get rid of the Wingdings.
If possible, please post a Screenshots and Files - Upload and Post in Seven Forums

Hi Tommy

Try this; Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 322756 How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

1. Click Start, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. In the left pane, locate and then click the following registry subkey:HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
3. Expand CurrentVersion, and verify that the Fonts registry subkey is present.
4. If the Fonts registry subkey is missing, create a new subkey. To do this, follow these steps:
   
   1. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click Key.
   2. Type Fonts, and then press ENTER.
   3. Exit Registry Editor.
   
   

Then have a look here; Fonts - Change

This is taken from here; http://support.microsoft.com/kb/919752 and I have modified it so it should work for you
If you cannot do the above there is an alternative method to be found on the webpage, I tried to copy and paste it here but it did not work very well

PS this is for XP but it should also work for you, if not just post back and ask :)

Wait up on my above post I need to check some things

OK I think this may be more feasible; http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...9-21ce79529b7e
Try the top answer

Thanks guys,,,, but,,,, I want to know what's causing this & how to prevent it.

There are a few different ways to put it right on various forums, but - as far as I can see - no one has come up with what's causing it,,,,, so no way of stopping it from occuring.

Thanks for your help though.

With a transient problem such as this pin pointing the root cause is very difficult. There are 1000's of hardware/software combos and sometimes a small few will cause very odd behavior. I know this isn't the answer you're seeking.

You say you have MalwareBytes, Essential security & Comodo, these could be the problem source. Only one security suite at a time, else they try delete each others files. If you have the free MalwareBytes this should cause no conflict since it has no real time protection, but is handy to have as a 2nd layer of security with the manual scans. I find no info on Essential security, is that MS Security Essentials? Comodo comes in several different configs too, AV only, firewall only, etc.

Avast, AVG, iTunes, and Steam are other programs which we have seen cause varied issues.

Thanks B30,
As this happened when I updated Malwarebytes, I assumed that was the problem (I now see that lots of other downloads/updates also cause it), so I contacted Malwarebytes for help or advice.
They were very helpful & looked into it, but couldn't come up with an answer,,,, nor have they heard of it before. They asked for a screen print next time it happens, so I said that I would send one, although I'm not rushing to replicate it !

Yes - sorry, the Essentials referred to is: M.S Security Essentials.

I am now one update behind on MWB, so might turn Comodo off to carry out the update, whilst I have an hour to spare, to put things right if it happens again.

thanks again

Tommy

This is the information I know about; Windows uses the Wingdings or Webdings font as its default display font when you install updates with antivirus software running on a Windows XP-based computer. You may want to run SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker before trying to update Mbam again

Pooch: Did another Scannow yesterday. It did say that some files couldn't be fixed. I'll look at the log later, although I probably won't understand what it means.

Imperfect1: Thanks for that. As above, I have actually been in touch with MWB & had several replies, & whilst they didn't warn me about making sure of download site/s, I did send them a log of their program. They said that was fine.
I usually update from my existing version, but will double check next time.

cheers