system font problem? weird checkboxes and other symbols on menu and drop-down buttons

Does anybody know about the following problem: On my Windows XP Professional
PC I have recently found that the checkboxes (when they are unchecked) in
all programs are no longer clear, white, but they show a strange black and
white pattern. Also on drop-down buttons the symbol is no longer a downwards
pointing triangle but some other funny character. And also on the menus
where a right pointing triangle should be there is a symbol like a mouse.

I have already tried to change the system font but nothing has helped so
far. The hidden vgasys.fon file in my Windows\Fonts directory is binary
equal to another copy of vgasys.fon which I found on the Internet. The
registry key for FONTS.FON has the normal value vgasys.fon.

I could probably get rid of this strange feature by reinstalling Windows XP,
but then I would lose all installed programs. Unfortunately when I made a
tape backup of my harddisk the problem was already present, so restoring
from the tape will not work.

Who can help me with this problem?

Martin de Groot

 

Find the 'ttfcache' file (no extension) and delete it.
Reboot.

 

Did you try the System Restore utility in System Tools?