Windows 7 Update and Wingdings

Wingdings are a known font in MS Word, if fact, you get Wingdings1, Wingdings2, and Wingdings3 in Word 2010. I would not have have done a system restore over that.

I, too, experienced this on two of my client's PC's this morning running Windows XP SP3.  I was ultimately successful in restoring the systems to working order, but to be honest, I don't know what specifically I did that fixed it.  The steps at www.computing.net/.../90884.html posted by user benzo555 and amended by user scanner118 were instrumental in correcting the problem.  It seemed that the registry key that contained records of installed fonts would be cleared after every reboot.  Very bizarre, and it has me very worried -- afraid to reboot systems.  The problem of fonts disappearing is not new as of this update, but it does appear that update KB2607712 triggered this event.  KB2510690 was not installed on the machines I was working on, so I believe that can be ruled out.  A number of posts have surfaced on the web about this specific problem both yesterday and today, indicating it is not an isolated incident.  I do hope Microsoft addresses this quickly.

My son and I both have identical Dell Latitudes D630 and we both experienced this problem on Sept 8, as well.  I am not aware of anyone else having it - so it must be associated with Dell's somehow....I do believe it was caused by Windows updates but I don't see the numbers you have listed in my update list.  My husband brought home my son's PC and re-imaged it - and it is fine now.  Since I use mine for business, I have been struggling with it ever since - undoing updates and restoring from previous restore points (every time it re-occurs) but haven't found anything that lasts permanently.  I read the steps recommended above but they were recommended many years ago for a different operating system (XT and Windows NT) - and I just don't understand how to perform them with Windows 7 - or how they could be relevant to this new operating system.  Am I missing something here?  I have now lost about a week of productivity and ready to re-image my machine as well.

My son and I both have identical Dell Latitudes D630 and we both experienced this problem on Sept 8, as well.  I am not aware of anyone else having it - so it must be associated with Dell's somehow.

I read the steps recommended above but they were recommended many years ago for a different operating system (XT and Windows NT) - and I just don't understand how to perform them with Windows 7 - or how they could be relevant to this new operating system.

Insofar as converting those steps to Windows 7, I'll attempt to help you here.  You may want to use another computer as a reference when your machine is unreadable:

1. The "Fonts" folder is still located by default at C:\Windows\Fonts, and it can be accessed through the Control Panel (recommended) or Windows Explorer.
2. Regedit can be accessed by clicking the Start menu, typing "regedit", and clicking "regedit.exe" (should be about the first entry).  Select "Yes" when asked for permission to allow the program to make changes to your computer.  The "Fonts" key is located (or should be, if it has been deleted) in the exact same location (HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts)
3. Be sure you can see hidden and system files in Windows Explorer -- most core Windows fonts are hidden files. To turn this on (it can be disabled later), try the following:
     a. Open the Control Panel (usually Start Menu, select Control Panel)
     b. Below the search bar in the upper right of the window, select "View by" and change to "Large Icons"
     c..Double-click "Folder Options"
     d. Open the "View" tab (second from left)
     e. Under "Advanced settings," under "Hidden files and folders," select "Show hidden files, folders, and drives."
     f. Make sure the following option is not checked: "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)" -- answer "Yes" to the warning if you uncheck the box.
     g. Click OK -- all hidden and system files and drives will now be visible to your user account in Windows Explorer.
     h. Restore these settings once you have remedied the problem
4. Attempt to follow the instructions given on the page I linked to earlier in this thread ( http://www.computing.net/answers/windows-xp/disappearing-fonts/90884.html#5 )

For Windows XP users, I've found this Microsoft Knowledge Base article (KB 919752) about the Wingdings/Webdings issue, along with a possible explanation and solution.  However, the virus scanners had been removed from the computers I first encountered that had this problem, so I do not believe they are the sole cause of the problem.

If you are successful in making your computer readable again, I suggest you immediately create several restore points, as well as consider backing up your data and reimaging the affected PC.

Hope this helps!

I appreciate your help but the Fonts folder is still in my registry (at least after restoring to a clean copy).  And, when I get the wingdings again (I'm sure I will), I'll give this another try and see if I can fix it with the wingdings there...

Is it your opinion that this is caused by my virus scanner updating the same time as Windows?  If so, I should be able to manage that process and keep it from happening again...Do you think this would prevent it from happening again?

That works for me...I'll just turn off the scanner when I do updates (I'm not doing them automatically automatically anymore either).

As to making the registry changes that you suggested..will I be able to do those if/when the wingdings occur again?  Or, will my registry also be in wingdings?

... the Fonts folder is still in my registry (at least after restoring to a clean copy).

I found that the Fonts key was still in the registry on the XP machines I fixed as well; I ended up removing and re-creating it.

Is it your opinion that this is caused by my virus scanner updating the same time as Windows?  If so, I should be able to manage that process and keep it from happening again...Do you think this would prevent it from happening again?

Yes, the registry will most likely return to Wingdings and be unreadable.  Unlike XP, I can't seem to find a way to change the system font so you can temporarily read things while you re-install/catalog the other fonts.  You can do so in the Display preferences in XP's Control Panel.  I suggest creating several restore points.

As to making the registry changes that you suggested..will I be able to do those if/when the wingdings occur again?  Or, will my registry also be in wingdings?

Mtfay and others,

Have you found any evidence that the wingding issue is associated with Ad-Aware?  My system had been fine for quite some time and my husband decided to "help me out" by installing Ad-Aware and scanning it for malware.  Ad-aware found 35 occurrences of malware and cleaned them up - but when he rebooted the wingdings were back.  I restored my system to the previous restore point (before Ad-aware was installed) and the wingdings were gone.  Then, just to test my theory, I reinstalled ad-aware, re-booted, scanned my system and everything was still clean but when I re-booted after that, the wingdings were back.  Every time I reinstall Ad-aware, they come back again.