I just finished removing all of the shortcuts from my Windows Fonts Folder. Re-checked not once but three times and caught some I had missed. Knew I would. Now I am ready to rest a bit and await your next post. In the meantime I did a Google search and came up with yet another list of "essential Windows Fonts". This list included "any font with a red A for its icon." and "Any font that begins with the letters MS". This information was found in the first hit on Google and is from "graphicssoft.about.com-----" The fonts I had already moved to Xtra fonts folder (now in My Documents, Downloads) had many that became just a number so if I had moved them en masse they would have been difficult to identify. If "making mistakes and fixing the mess" is the absolute best way to learn, I am doing a bang up job of it! Sandi ----- Original Message ----- From: "GMan" <gman.pctt@xxxxxxxxx> To: <pctechtalk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, October 21, 2007 2:10 AM Subject: -=PCTechTalk=- Re: Fonts Tutorial > Sandi, > You'd get your info from someone else. lol > > The old lists most likely both pertain to older operating systems. > Fixedsys, MSDOS, and System are all fonts that are used for Win9x/ME OS's > since they had a true DOS underlayment (NT based OS's only emulate DOS > when > you call for a Command Prompt window). > > I'll go through my Fonts folder and type out the names of the ones > shown > (to eliminate those numbered ones) so you'll know for sure. I have yet to > add any fonts from any source to this newer install, so the list will only > include the ones supplied by WinXP upon installation. I'll suggest that > you > save the post for future reference. :O) > > Like I said in my last post, delete ALL of the shortcuts in your > Windows > Font folder and start over. There's absolutely no sense in leaving > something that could confuse the situation and deleting shortcuts won't > hurt > a thing. It's deleting the originals that you have to avoid. > > Once the shortcuts are gone, wait for my post of the original fonts > before proceeding. I'll include a short tutorial on how to make the rest > of > it much easier that how you've been doing it. The rest of this reply > should > be added to what I've already discussed, but not acted on until I send in > the next post to this thread. > > > There are several different types of fonts. Describing them fully > would > be well beyond the scope of this post (and more than most folks could > probably tolerate), so here's a link with a well worded full description > of > the different types. > http://anakin.ncst.ernet.in/~aparna/consolidated/x1057.html > > The READ ONLY files were most likely set like that intentionally by the > app that put them there in order to discourage you from removing them. It > seems to be working, too. hehe. Right click in a blank area of the Fonts > folder and select View > Details from the resulting context menu. Then, > look to the column titles for one called Attributes. It tells you what > attributes have been set for each font. If you click on it, the window > will > reorder the list so that all of the READ ONLY files are together on a row. > Then you can more easily scroll down (or up) to them and select the bunch > of > them at once (click the top one, scroll down as necessary to see the last > one, hold down the SHIFT key while you select that last one). Once > they're > all selected, right click on one of them and select Properties from the > menu. Uncheck the READ ONLY box and click on Apply. It may ask you to > confirm your choice. Select Yes to that. > > Finally, as long as it's not a font needed by Windows, it won't > permanently hurt anything to Move it out of there and into your Xtra > folder. > If it turns out that one of the apps you use actually needs it in order to > function, you can move it to your 'In Use' folder and create a shortcut > for > it in Windows/Fonts then. > > I thought of a small modification to my last suggested order for > getting > this the way you want it. The results are below. > > Before you start any fo the following, your font storage area (the one > away from the Windows folder and preferably on a different partition or > drive) should be set up like this. The actual names of these folders is > up > to you, but the meanings should be cleared up by the instructions > following > it. > > +My Documents > + FONTS > + IN USE > + ORIGINAL > + XTRA > > 1. Delete every shortcut you find in the Windows Fonts folder. No > Exceptions! This will eliminate the possibility of any remaining broken > ones and anything that could complicate the rest of this procedure. Any > that you really want will be recreated shortly. > > 2. Using Windows Explorer (along with the instructions and list of > original fonts in my next post), Move ALL of your non-original Windows > fonts > from the Windows/Fonts folder to the My Documents/FONTS/XTRA folder. This > will leave the Windows/Fonts folder with nothing in it except for the > original fonts. The original Windows fonts should then be Copied (not > moved) from the Windows/Fonts folder directly to the "Original" folder so > as > to leave the originals in the Windows Font folder. Finally, run a search > over your entire collection of hard drives & partitions for any other > stray > fonts that may be lurking in program folders or elsewhere. Since those > programs probably need the fonts left right where they are, Copy them from > the Search results window into your XTRA folder (CTRL+A will select them > all > in that window). If you get a warning that a font already exists while > copying them there, select No to replacing it. > > 3. At this point, every font everywhere in your computer should be in > either your 'XTRA' or 'ORIGINAL' folder. The original Windows fonts are > also in the Windows/Font folder and any that you found in other locations > will still also be in those other locations. So, it's now time to start > going through the entire XTRA folder to choose which of the fonts in the > XTRA folder are good enough to be chosen for an "IN USE" upgrade. To do > this right, you'll need to install and use a Font Manager type program. > Several have already been suggested and this is the perfect time to give > each of them a spin. Install one of them and use it to go through all of > the fonts that start with a number (if there aren't enough of those, > continue through til the end of the A's). Any fonts that you really like > should be immediately Moved into your IN USE folder. When you're done > with > the numbered files (and perhaps the A's), install another manager and use > that for the next batch. Rinse & Repeat as necessary to get through all > of > the managers you choose to test out. Using these apps for a relatively > small group of fonts should give you some idea of which one is best for > your > needs. Once you've chosen your favorite manager app, uninstall the rest > and > get to work going through the remaining fonts in the XTRA folder. When > you're finished, move on to step 4 below. > > 4. Select (CTRL+A) all of the files that made it into the IN USE > folder, > Right drag them to the Windows Fonts folder and select Create Shortcut > from > the menu. Note that from now on, all of your "In Use" fonts MUST remain > where they are or you will break these shortcuts. That includes the fact > that you will not be able to move the folder anywhere other than where it > is > right now. > > 5. If at any time in the future you choose to move or remove a font > from > your IN USE folder, you will also need to delete its shortcut from the > Windows Font folder. If you choose to add a font to the IN USE folder, > you > will have to create a shortcut to it in the Windows Font folder before you > can use it like the others. > > I hope that this post is able to fully clarify all of the semi-random > thoughts I've given up to this point. I know all too well that my posts > can > sometimes feel like they're leading you folks in circles, but that doesn't > make it any easier for me to type out things that I normally do on > autopilot. Still, making mistakes & fixing the mess has always been the > absolute BEST way to learn anything worth knowing. Besides, if this stuff > was easy, everybody wou ..., oh wait. Everybody IS diong it. ;O} > > Have fun! > > Peace, > GMan > > "The only dumb questions are the ones we fail to ask!" > --------------------------------------------------------------- Please remember to trim your replies (including this sentence and everything below it) and adjust the subject line as necessary. To unsubscribe or change your email settings: //www.freelists.org/webpage/pctechtalk To access our Archives: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/PCTechTalk/messages/ //www.freelists.org/archives/pctechtalk/ To contact only the PCTT Mod Squad, write to: pctechtalk-moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ---------------------------------------------------------------