Protected system fonts

[tbernstein]

When i upgraded to Win7 I found that the Chinese etc. system fonts are still protected system fonts.
I assume that they are still part of the Windows 7 OS and not a hang over from Vista. They stiill can't be removed.
I know that Batang etc do no harm. But they annoyed me when I was using Vista and after the upgrade they are still there to annoy me.
It's not just that I'm being a bit precious about them
I fight to resist loading every font under the sun onto my system. I easily could, I love fonts.
But if I can't have every font I want I really object to having to carry ones that I will never need or want.

Why do Microsoft make them unremovable?
OK, in some parts of the world they need these.
But surely Microsoft, in their wisdom(?) could have been a bit more flexible.

 

[Brink]

Hello Terry,

Have you already tried deleting them using the method below?

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1076-fonts-delete.html

 

[tbernstein]

Yes

"the Chinese etc. system fonts are still protected system fonts."

 

[rsvr85]

OK, i just changed the ACL. Added my username and gave full permissions, changed the owner to me (instead of trusted installer) and tried to delete, i didn't get the system protected message this time but was told that the fonts are in use and cannot be deleted????
I'll keep trying for a solution.

EDIT: The changes in the ACL worked. Which font in particular where you trying to delete?

 

[tbernstein]

Anthing in non-latin script, like chinese or similar, that to my eyes appears as a collection of squiggles.
These are language or region specific and I'll never need them.

 

[rsvr85]

OK, i just changed the ACL. Added my username and gave full permissions, changed the owner to me (instead of trusted installer) and tried to delete, i didn't get the system protected message this time but was told that the fonts are in use and cannot be deleted????
I'll keep trying for a solution.

EDIT: The changes in the ACL worked. Which font in particular where you trying to delete?

You may have to do this with each of the fonts you want deleting.

Take Ownership of file - Vista Forums

 

[agbneill]

To get rid of protected system fonts:

(0) Create a System Restore Point first

(1) Copy C:\Windows\Fonts folder to Desktop, make Read Only
(2) Restart using Ubuntu 9.04 DVD to run from disc without changing your computer
(3) Use Ubuntu to delete fonts you don't want
(4) remove Ubuntu disc, restart Win7

You are the owner of any fonts you reinstall from your Desktop copy

This may also work with BartPE or Seagate Disk Wizard

 

[tbernstein]

That's a good idea.
I'll make a list of them first,though. Better to delete 1 too few than 1 too many.

 

[agbneill]

Removing unwanted fonts via Ubuntu disk:

In retrospect, maybe not such a good idea.

I lost the pointer icon on the Start Menu and checkboxes and radio buttons in some apps. Not sure which font they came from.

You cannot reinstall fonts removed this way because Win thinks they're still there.

Fonts are listed in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\Current Version\Fonts (maybe somewhere else as well). I'm not sure of the wisdom of removing them here.

 

[faithless]

In deleting Fonts in Windows 7 one-by-one, as above, I note that they are currently owned by 'TrustedInstaller'. Is there any way to - I don't know, log on or something - as 'TrustedInstaller' so the fonts can be deleted en masse?

 

[logicearth]

Just to point out Fonts that are faded, are not loaded and thus are not consuming anything but HDD space (they still consume HDD space even when deleted.) Versus previous versions of Windows, 7 has builtin font management capabilities.

 

[faithless]

Except that they show up and consume space in software drop-down font menus - Outlook 2007, for instance, and Microsoft can have no excuse for that - clogging up the space and compelling the user to scroll up and down more than necessary. I can assure you that the fonts show up as faded in the Font folder and yet still turn up as an option for text formatting in emails.

Why do Microsoft make it so difficult for someone in England to delete, e.g., Korean fonts which are never going to be used?

The only reason for keeping them, so far as I can see, is in case they are needed to display a web page. But if I see a Google entry with Korean characters, I do exactly the same as I would if it simply displayed gobbledygook - I ignore it.

Even though I deleted some 36 protected fonts, there are a further dozen or so which I cannot delete even by taking ownership and granting myself full permissions. Batang, for example, and MingLiu.

Just one more instance of Microsoft making decisions that cause needless frustration, and never giving - if there is one - a rationale for the decision.

 

[tbernstein]

Precisely.

 

[rsvr85]

Except that they show up and consume space in software drop-down font menus - Outlook 2007, for instance, and Microsoft can have no excuse for that - clogging up the space and compelling the user to scroll up and down more than necessary. I can assure you that the fonts show up as faded in the Font folder and yet still turn up as an option for text formatting in emails.

Why do Microsoft make it so difficult for someone in England to delete, e.g., Korean fonts which are never going to be used?

The only reason for keeping them, so far as I can see, is in case they are needed to display a web page. But if I see a Google entry with Korean characters, I do exactly the same as I would if it simply displayed gobbledygook - I ignore it.

Even though I deleted some 36 protected fonts, there are a further dozen or so which I cannot delete even by taking ownership and granting myself full permissions. Batang, for example, and MingLiu.

Just one more instance of Microsoft making decisions that cause needless frustration, and never giving - if there is one - a rationale for the decision.

I can't seem to delete Batang either, the fact they're this well protected says that it'd be unwise to delete them. Have you actually previewed Batang, it's not Chinese characters at all, Windows must use them for something specific. If you really must delete them (which i doubt you do) do as suggested above and boot off an Ubuntu Live-CD and do the job. Beware however, that you may boot into a messed up Windows!

 

[faithless]

Batang is a foreign character set. If you look at the font details provided in the C:/windows/fonts folder, it will tell you that the Font Foundry is Han Yang I & C Co. Ltd and that it is 'Designed for' "Korean".

So, I repeat the question. Why is it so insistently imperative that I MUST have - at 31Mb hard disk usage and large entries in all drop-down font menus - the ability to show Korean text on my computer? I don't have the ability to switch it off; nowhere so far as I have found does Microsoft trouble to tell me WHY it must remain available at all times, whatever my wishes might be. It's just another Mysterious Microsoft fait accompli.

It's totally ridiculous that obtaining and then using a boot disk for an entirely different operating system should be proposed as anything approaching a reasonable workaround (though I thank those who have made the suggestion).

 

[tbernstein]

And apart from the irritation of having to waste time skimming through these when I'm deciding which font to use, there's the principle involved. On my computer Microsoft, for no good purpose, have added a slab of unwanted and unneeded data, which they have locked onto my setup against my will.

 

[Mill3407]

In the registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontLink\SystemLink

are all the fonts we can't delete. Has anyone tried deleting Batang et al. in the registry?

 

[cretaceous]

I am another who wants 100% control on my computer and I want to delete forever all foreign fonts - they show up in too many application menus

come on Microsoft sort it out

I have even used Adobe Illustrator in Thai.. when in Thailand

do i want Thai or Chinese on my pc?
NO NEVER
you need a localised keyboard for starters

isnt there a reg-edit solution?

 

[Nil Einne]

I presume those so worked up about this have at least told Windows to hide fonts based on language settings right?

Incidentally, I presume you are aware that the 31mb or whatever of unneeded data pales in comparison to the countless of drivers, services etc that you'll never use and those complaining about this 31mb of wasted hard disk space have made sure to delete all this unneeded data before worrying about 31mb

 

[cretaceous]

Nil Einne - are you being a troll?
have you read the rest of this thread?

it's seeing the unwanted fonts appear in other program menus that is annoying

I'm a professional designer, I don't want to see fonts I have not installed in my menus
I couldn't care less about the disk space

Microsoft make too many decisions on what they think is "best" and take control away from the user
- this font issue appears to be driven by a poor bit of programming logic

other changes are driven by "hey guys this is new, nobody else does it like this, lets change it and lets ignore the users - they don't matter - we're designing softaware for the 21st century - they're just retards "