Fonts messed up with certain applications.

wws · 10 Mar 2014

Certain fonts on my Windows 7 SP1 computer have been messed up for a while. The fonts seem to be too large and bolded. This is not a system-wide issue, only certain programs exhibit it. For some reason, application installers are where the problem most commonly asserts itself. This started happening when I transferred my user account from Windows XP last year, so maybe it has something to do with that. I recall having this problem on XP too. Can you look at my example and possibly provide a solution or insight as to the source of the problem? Thanks!

Here is an example
https://i.imgur.com/XvpsE5b.png

TVeblen · 11 Mar 2014

You should try rebuilding the font cache.

Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the Local folder

C:\Windows:\ServiceProfiles:\LocalService:\Appdata:\Local

And then delete the fntcache.dat file.

Restart your computer and a new fntcache.dat will be created.

See if that helps.

Anak · 11 Mar 2014

I see TVeblen has replied, follow his guidance first.

There are two areas on your machine that I would like you to check, the first one is in the registry. Have you ever explored the registry, are you comfortable going in there?

Use this to easily find the two entries I need you to check: Registry Editor - Find and Find Next When you get to Step 5 type/copy/paste - MS Shell Dlg - in the Find What box, then click on Find Next.

You should be at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes and see this MS Shell Dlg highlighted in the right view panel that shows the Names of the Keys in that hive (FontSubstitutes)
This is mine:

Fonts messed up with certain applications.-reg1.jpg

Now I need you to go to: Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Fonts, in the upper right corner you will see a Search Fonts box, type/copy/paste - sserife.fon - into that box and let Windows do its thing.

Do you see any result?
This is mine:

Fonts messed up with certain applications.-fon1.jpg

Post back if that is what you see or not. The Registry can be modified if different, and if you don't see MS Sans Serif Regular it will need to be installed.

wws · 11 Mar 2014

TVeblen said:

You should try rebuilding the font cache.

Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the Local folder

C:\Windows:\ServiceProfiles:\LocalService:\Appdata:\Local

And then delete the fntcache.dat file.

Restart your computer and a new fntcache.dat will be created.

See if that helps.

Anak said:

I see TVeblen has replied, follow his guidance first.

There are two areas on your machine that I would like you to check, the first one is in the registry. Have you ever explored the registry, are you comfortable going in there?

Use this to easily find the two entries I need you to check: Registry Editor - Find and Find Next When you get to Step 5 type/copy/paste - MS Shell Dlg - in the Find What box, then click on Find Next.

You should be at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes and see this MS Shell Dlg highlighted in the right view panel that shows the Names of the Keys in that hive (FontSubstitutes)
This is mine:

Now I need you to go to: Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Fonts, in the upper right corner you will see a Search Fonts box, type/copy/paste - sserife.fon - into that box and let Windows do its thing.

Do you see any result?
This is mine:

Post back if that is what you see or not. The Registry can be modified if different, and if you don't see MS Sans Serif Regular it will need to be installed.

Hey thanks to both of you for replying so quickly and helpfully! I will try tveblen's advice first. I already tried going to font settings and pushing "Reset all fonts to defaults" but that didn't do anything.

Anak, I am familiar with the registry and will try your method if TVeblen's doesn't work.

Thank you both again!

wws · 27 Mar 2014

TVeblen said:

You should try rebuilding the font cache.

Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the Local folder

C:\Windows:\ServiceProfiles:\LocalService:\Appdata:\Local

And then delete the fntcache.dat file.

Restart your computer and a new fntcache.dat will be created.

See if that helps.

Anak said:

I see TVeblen has replied, follow his guidance first.

There are two areas on your machine that I would like you to check, the first one is in the registry. Have you ever explored the registry, are you comfortable going in there?

Use this to easily find the two entries I need you to check: Registry Editor - Find and Find Next When you get to Step 5 type/copy/paste - MS Shell Dlg - in the Find What box, then click on Find Next.

You should be at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes and see this MS Shell Dlg highlighted in the right view panel that shows the Names of the Keys in that hive (FontSubstitutes)
This is mine:

Now I need you to go to: Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Fonts, in the upper right corner you will see a Search Fonts box, type/copy/paste - sserife.fon - into that box and let Windows do its thing.

Do you see any result?
This is mine:

Post back if that is what you see or not. The Registry can be modified if different, and if you don't see MS Sans Serif Regular it will need to be installed.

Hey,

First of all, sorry for the late reply. I was on vacation for spring break and didn't get back till yesterday.

Anak, I looked at both your locations and everything looks just like your examples. I will now try TVeblen's advice.

wws · 27 Jun 2014

TVeblen said:

You should try rebuilding the font cache.

Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the Local folder

C:\Windows:\ServiceProfiles:\LocalService:\Appdata:\Local

And then delete the fntcache.dat file.

Restart your computer and a new fntcache.dat will be created.

See if that helps.

Anak said:

I see TVeblen has replied, follow his guidance first.

There are two areas on your machine that I would like you to check, the first one is in the registry. Have you ever explored the registry, are you comfortable going in there?

Use this to easily find the two entries I need you to check: Registry Editor - Find and Find Next When you get to Step 5 type/copy/paste - MS Shell Dlg - in the Find What box, then click on Find Next.

You should be at HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes and see this MS Shell Dlg highlighted in the right view panel that shows the Names of the Keys in that hive (FontSubstitutes)
This is mine:

Now I need you to go to: Control Panel\All Control Panel Items\Fonts, in the upper right corner you will see a Search Fonts box, type/copy/paste - sserife.fon - into that box and let Windows do its thing.

Do you see any result?
This is mine:

Post back if that is what you see or not. The Registry can be modified if different, and if you don't see MS Sans Serif Regular it will need to be installed.

Guys, I tried Anak's advice and my system looks just like his.

Here is another example of what I'm talking about.

https://i.imgur.com/SiWO3XL.png

You can see the problem especially in the "Free Newsletter" text and All-In-One solution for remote control and private meeting." See how the text is more bold and obvious than usual?

Thanks for all your help!

wws

TVeblen · 27 Jun 2014

You should post a link to a page you believe to have a problem.
Then post a screen shot of that page here.

Then we can see if what you see is what we get.

(That page looks perfectly normal to me)

Anak · 28 Jun 2014

I think I see what you mean, everything I blocked is bolder than the rest of the word. Some words only have one darkened (bolder) letter.

Fonts messed up with certain applications.-messy-font.png

This is different than the newsletter page you have, but here's what I'm seeing, everything looks even to me:

Fonts messed up with certain applications.-messy-font1.png

I'm thinking; You upgraded from XP to 7 and you had this problem even when you had XP installed.

From your thread starter, my reasoning is in blue:

Certain fonts on my Windows 7 SP1 computer have been messed up for a while. The fonts seem to be too large and bolded.

That would explain this, Application installers would use system fonts.
This is not a system-wide issue, only certain programs exhibit it. For some reason, application installers are where the problem most commonly asserts itself.

This started happening when I transferred my user account from Windows XP last year, so maybe it has something to do with that. I recall having this problem on XP too.
It could be you had a corrupted XP user account and transferred the problem over to the upgrade.

Can you look at my example and possibly provide a solution or insight as to the source of the problem? Thanks!

There is an outside chance you may have an ailing Video display (Monitor) and/or video card. Using an older XP machine would indicate older equipment.
Have you ever tried to adjust your video display settings or upgraded your video card drivers?

This could also be a problem if you're using the Aero display feature in 7 which XP didn't have, but you did say it was a problem in XP to. Use this Tutorial to check: Color Bit Depth - Display Settings Notice the other tutorials at the bottom of the page they may help.

Your system specs are incomplete so I can't help much in that area until you fill them out. Best I can offer for now is to try an adjust the monitor settings. If you accepted the settings as they were while with XP, your XP user account transferred those settings over to the 7 OS.
If you want to start with a new User Account: User Account - Create

If you're having problems adjusting your monitor or you don't have the manual anymore, fill in your specs and we'll see if we can find one for you. Include the video card (graphics card) your using.