Windows 98: How do I restore fonts?

Question

XPS t500, WIN98:

I made a huge error. Somehow, I believe I deleted a font file used thruout Windows. I am seeing default fonts and in some cases I can no longer change the fonts. This affects Outlook Express, Word, Excel, IE 6, as well as non-MS documents. [For example, here, everything is in a cap and small cap font that I cannot change @ all. or, when i print a page from ie, the date/time and url at the top of the page shows icons instead of text.]

1) Is there a way to restore the system to yesterday's settings?

2) Will restoring the registry restore the fonts?

3) I found a site that said I could run the Win98 install CD and when it says "Run setup again?" I would select "restore changed or corrupted files." Should this do the trick? [if this would work, i believe I'd have to run all the Win98 updates again, which is fine--I just want my fonts back where they were in documents.

This is a horrible situation because it affects text/graphics/art files, some of which might not be backed up [and even in those cases where i have the backups, my systems seems to no longer have the fonts].

If anyone can help, I'd appreciate it greatly. I should never have done this, but somehow did.

dg27

dg27 · Answer

Denny:

Thnks for the swift response. Should I strictly be looking at restoring the fonts?

Or should I be simply restoring a backup registry?

One point I noted on the windows site: "Windows makes and stores a backup of the registry when you start your computer successfully each day. By default, five previous copies or the registry are stored.

I have restarted a number of times since this cropped up: Could that mean that I amy only have "bad" registries?

Denny Denham · Answer

dg27, You can restore the default fonts using the procedure given here.

Denny Denham · Answer

dg27, A registry restore will not restore the font files which have been deleted. If you restarted several times and the starts were successful, the stored registries will be 'good' by definition.

dg27 · Answer

Denny: After you replied I decided to back up everything, just in case something went wrong [I'd prefer one suggest "root canal" over "regedit."]

I read the Windows info a few times, then got brave enough to go into the Registry Editor.

In Step 1 I discovered when I expanded according to the directions that there was no subkey called "Fonts," The choices in the list went FileCopy, fontsize, then FS template.

At that point I closed the Registry Editor, and opened C:Windows. There I found that within the "Fonts" folder there were but five: Courier, MS Sans Serif, MS Serif, Small Fonts, and Symbol.

I assumed that somehow everything [including the subkey] got deleted and I'd have to export from the Win98 CD.

I created a folder in C: Windows called "NEWFONTS," as per step 2 [as if I had already exported and deleted the subkey I never found].

When I closed that window I reopened IE to look at your post again and "poof!": everything was back to normal.

I've since checked all my affected apps, including docs with elaborate formatting [which were all messed up a few hours ago] and everything is back to normal.

Thank you. But what in heck happened????

dg27 · Answer

Denny:

Note that I wouldn't have opened that regedit had you not suggested it. That alone should be worth a consultant's fee!

On another note, I'll email you over the weekend regarding the Outlook export viewlet...have a question.

Thanks again.

dg

Denny Denham · Answer

dg27, If I could explain that I'd be making big bucks working for Microsoft. I'm glad it got fixed, even though I don't know how.

dg27 · Answer

This morning had OE and IE open and all seemed normal.

system crashed [blue screen] indicating OE had quit; got the press any key to continue dialog. Pressing any key did nothing, Could not shut down normally--had to terminate via lower button. When system rebooted, the fonts were gone again.

Went back to the instructions for restoring the fonts, but am unsure what to do because as noted yesterday:

In Step 1 I discovered when I expanded according to the directions that there was no subkey called "Fonts," The choices in the list went FileCopy, fontsize, then FS template.

That is, there IS no subkey listed for "FONTS," so there's [apparently] nothing to export.

I already have an empty subfolder within Windows called "NEW FONTS" that I created yesterday--this is Step 2 from the "How to Restore the Windows Default Fonts" instructions.

Should I simply pick up the Windows from Step 3 ["Extract the Original Windows Fonts to the Temporary Folder"]???

[Is it looking like reloading Windows is called for?]

dg27 · Answer

Resolved via Dell tech support thru use of Dell Resource CD. Restored registry to version from a few days ago. As usual, the Dell support person was outstanding. dg

Denny Denham · Answer

dg27, Now, that I understand. If the fonts were resident on the hard disk but the registry did not reflect their presence they would not have been seen as available. Once the registry was restored Windows could find them again.

dg27 · Answer

This problem after using a 'registry cleaner' application that claimed it 'delete duplicate registry entries.' I was just hoping to make this machine behave a little more consistently for a while longer, till I can afford to replace it. It's been very wonky for the past few months. A few days ago both PestPatrol and Norton's scanning software found three items that they could not quarantine or delete [I eventually wrote down the exact file names, found them and deleted them].

Windows General

Windows 98: How do I restore fonts?

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