Avatar for Username

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Cuireadh an snáithe seo sa chartlann. Cuir ceist nua má tá cabhair uait.

All the lettlers on my desktop and in the address bar appear as symbols. Also, I can't run firefox because it keeps giving me a crash report. I'm running Vista, if that helps.

  • 1 freagra
  • 3 leis an bhfadhb seo
  • 1 view
  • Freagra is déanaí ó cor-el

jma3252
jma3252
more options

This is my parent's computer. Here are the facts: After using facebook the previous evening, the next time the computer was used all of the desktop displayed symbols instead of letters/words. Upon trying to open Firefox a window labeled Firefox crash report opened. No matter what options you choose (send report, don't send, etc) when you click on an option, another Firefox crash report window opens. So I can't open Firefox. Simple solution would be to uninstall Firefox and reinstall it; however, it is very hard to navigate the computer with no words and all symbols. I am able to open up Internet Explorer, but anything in the address bar or search bar also appears as symbols. If I were to type in a specific site in the address bar, the site will load properly in words but the address bar still shows symbols. After much playing around, I was able to update Avast antivirus and run a full scan and nothing was found. I updated Malware Bytes and ran in for an hour but it never fully finished running before I had to leave. Please help.

This is my parent's computer. Here are the facts: After using facebook the previous evening, the next time the computer was used all of the desktop displayed symbols instead of letters/words. Upon trying to open Firefox a window labeled Firefox crash report opened. No matter what options you choose (send report, don't send, etc) when you click on an option, another Firefox crash report window opens. So I can't open Firefox. Simple solution would be to uninstall Firefox and reinstall it; however, it is very hard to navigate the computer with no words and all symbols. I am able to open up Internet Explorer, but anything in the address bar or search bar also appears as symbols. If I were to type in a specific site in the address bar, the site will load properly in words but the address bar still shows symbols. After much playing around, I was able to update Avast antivirus and run a full scan and nothing was found. I updated Malware Bytes and ran in for an hour but it never fully finished running before I had to leave. Please help.

All Replies (1)

cor-el
cor-el
  • Moderator
  • Top 10 Contributor
more options

Try to disable hardware acceleration.

  • Tools > Options > Advanced > General > Browsing: "Use hardware acceleration when available"

If disabling hardware acceleration works then check if there is an update available for your graphics display driver.

Try to toggle some Boolean gfx.font_rendering prefs on the about:config page to disable some features. Filter: gfx

Some to try:

  • set gfx.direct2d.disabled to true to disable Direct2D
  • set gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.use_gdi_table_loading to false.

To open the about:config page, type about:config in the location (address) bar and press the "Enter" key, just like you type the url of a website to open a website.
If you see a warning then you can confirm that you want to access that page.

  • Use the Filter bar at to top of the about:config page to locate a preference more easily.
  • Preferences that have been modified show as bold (user set).
  • Preferences can be reset to the default or changed via the right-click context menu.