I have noticed that in certain programs (such as Vuze and the proprietary program which my university class management system is accessed through) have font issues, wherein text appears as random symbols.

Already, Google has been consulted with a number of variations on the phrase "find out what fonts programs need" and other relevant phrases, but to no avail. Most cases are pages showing you how to install a font. One source included a FontReg experiment, but it didn't seem relevant.

As an example, here's what I get on Vuze; notice it's only the current progress of the download which is affected:


I forgot to mention that I'm running windows on Boot Camp. This issue, however, has been experienced with native Windows installs on PCs. In fact, the same issue happened on the computer I am assigned in my office at the uni, and the uni tech staff remotely logged in and fixed it. Though I was watching, I wasn't quick enough (or had poor memory) to catch what they did. Thus I cannot replicate their solution.

In terms of the class management system at my university, nearly everything comes out as boxes. I may possibly be able to ask the tech support at the uni to check my laptop, but they are likely going to refuse, as they have done in the past; "We don't handle Macs... we don't service computers that aren't ours" and the like.

Any ideas? Help is much appreciated.

[Edited on September 15, 2010 at 6:06 AM. Reason : more details]

[Edited on September 15, 2010 at 6:07 AM. Reason : spelling]

9/15/2010 6:02:40 AM

you're not missing a font, that's what happens when you have the mac version of helvetica installed instead of the windows version.



if you delete helvetica from your fonts folder, it should default back to arial or some other sans serif equiv.

9/15/2010 8:01:21 AM

(font issue)

9/15/2010 11:18:07 AM

Thanks. that's interesting. Will try it when I get home.

Any ideas on how to find out what font other programs need? I will undoubtedly still have the problem of seeing boxes in the other program (will try to get a screenshot up later; I'm not in front of that particular computer right now to get one up).

9/16/2010 12:52:50 AM

You should get to know your fonts intimately; play around with them in WordPad or something...

Anyway most Windows programs use these fonts:
Fixedsys - the original Windows monospace font, included since Windows 1.0
System - also outdated, commonly used in Windows 3.x
MS Sans Serif - the principal system font for Windows 9x, now also available in a TrueType form, "Microsoft Sans Serif"
MS Serif - more common in older applications, now supplanted by the TrueType "Times New Roman"
Symbol - Before the advent of Unicode support, applications used this font for symbols.
Marlett - The Windows Classic themes use this font for the caption buttons, scrollbars, and check boxes.
Lucida Console - Windows XP and later use this font for the Blue Screen of Death and optionally for the command prompt; this may also be the default font for Notepad.
Tahoma - the principal system font since Windows 2000 until Vista
Verdana - a wider version of Tahoma, used prominently on hundreds of websites including this one
Times New Roman - formerly the default font on every word-processing program
Courier New - formerly the default monospace font
Arial - formerly the default sans-serif font, and very common in Java-based applications like Vuze
Trebuchet MS - the default title bar font for the Luna and Royale themes in Windows XP
Segoe UI - the principal system font for Vista and later
Consolas - the new default monospace font
Calibri - the new default font for Word

The screenshot looks as if it uses Microsoft Sans Serif in the title bar, Tahoma in the toolbar, and Trebuchet MS in the menu bar and downloads panel.

9/16/2010 3:13:09 AM

I know what particular fonts are.. uh, thanks.

What I need to know is how can I find out what font a particular program is looking for (but can't, for example, find)? I'm assuming it's not a particularly common font (after all, the university I work for is a Korean one, so they'd want a Korean font, and while I know some of them, apparently it's a font that even a Korean version of Windows doesn't seem to have standard).

I somehow doubt that has anything to do with encouraging me to find out what fonts are and what they look like. I am well aware of that.

Of course, it's possible that the issue with the web-based class management system (the one at my uni which I have been referring to repeatedly) is having a similar problem with respect to the Vuze program. I doubt that, however, as other installations on PCs have had the same problem and it seems a fairly common one. It must be some Korean font which is not installed as a default (?)

9/16/2010 4:44:42 AM

lewisje is a pretty good Tech Talk troll.

9/16/2010 8:04:49 AM

^^I forgot to list the typical Asian-language fonts, like the ones that have "Mincho" in their names, but I'm not so familiar with them

I was also about to suggest Identifont, but I'm not sure that will help here; I've also tried Process Explorer but it just tells me that various processes use the Font Cache.

Maybe the Event Viewer will tell you that a certain process tried to load a certain font file but failed...

9/16/2010 10:14:47 AM

Update:

I haven't figured out the problem with the Korean class management system program, so that's still a quandary.

With respect to Vuze, I downloaded and installed Helvetica (to see if that really was the problem), and it is now different (arguably worse). Will have to try some other routes now.

See:


Mincho is, I would argue, not a "typical" Asian font, as it's probably only for a specific language. Typical Korean fonts include BatangChe, Dotum Che, and the like.

Here's the Korean program. Note that some things are showing up just fine, but the left-hand menu (and anything else I access from that menu, pretty much) is all showing boxes.



[Edited on September 16, 2010 at 9:34 PM. Reason : Korean fonts >> Mincho ]

9/16/2010 9:27:38 PM

I think Mincho is for Japanese; anyway have you looked at Arial Unicode MS? I know that font has a lot of Unicode characters, which just might be what Vuze needs...

Also someone with Premium should re-post what I type below this line:
<span style="font-family:'MS Mincho',Cambria,Georgia,'Times New Roman',serif">MS Mincho and SimSun are why user manuals for cheaply-made electronics have that weird-looking serif typeface.</span>

[Edited on September 16, 2010 at 9:39 PM. Reason : also SimSun is for Chinese fyi

9/16/2010 9:34:21 PM

Is it possible you're just missing the Korean language pack on the computer?

Also, you could always tell tech support that the issue "pops back up at random" and you'd like to know how they fix it, so that you don't have to call them each time it's acting up.

Basically: lie.

9/17/2010 12:08:41 AM

I see some of that sweet sweet Hangul in the screenshots

9/17/2010 3:06:07 AM

Well, since I have a Korean version of Windows, it would seem fairly acceptable to assume that the font is not missing because of Windows itself. But I could be wrong. Again, it crops up unusually. My English-language version of windows which I have on my university-assigned computer at work had the problem, and it was fixed for me (as it was a university PC). My Korean-language version of Windows doesn't have it.

I"ll probably bring it to work and just ask them some questions to finagle them into fixing it for me. Fortunately next we're off work due to Chuseok!

Yes, that's Hangeul in the screenshots and so easy to learn. For funsies, try it.

9/17/2010 9:45:58 AM

bttt

any ideas?

9/18/2010 10:50:50 PM

Get Windows in English.
Install CJK language pack.
???
PROFIT

9/18/2010 11:19:58 PM

This seems to be the underlying cause: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mojibake

This may be able to fix it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_AppLocale

9/19/2010 12:28:58 AM

^ I'm not sure I follow the reference to AppLocale, but thanks for passing on the info. I'll see what I can find out by Googling AppLocale a bit more.

The program isn't one you actually download (though it does require installation of some software -- I'm not entirely sure, but I think it's probably something 'security' related). To use the program I have been referring to, you still have to visit a URL on the school's domain - this causes the program to 'launch' as it were, and then you log in with your credentials and see data relevant to your particular position (students who log in see their courses, grades, and the like).

If you'd like to see & visit the URL yourself, let me know and I'll post it.

[Edited on September 19, 2010 at 10:57 AM. Reason : I get Mojibake. Have that all the time. Usually changing text encoding works with web pages. ]

9/19/2010 10:57:11 AM

Well, I'm guessing my advice didn't work as you haven't posted in a couple of days.

Sorry I didn't post any sooner, as I have been busy the last couple of days with errands and work.

If you manage to see this, I would like to have the URL to the program. It looks like I'll have to do some experiments in a VM. I will also need the version of Windows XP you are using (including which Service Pack is installed).


If you haven't tried AppLocale yet, given that the program is an URL, I'm assuming the program runs under Java. Perhaps if you add the Java executable to AppLocale, it will work.

9/21/2010 9:42:16 AM