Characters missing in web browser fonts

Help & Support
1

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My forum name is Levers. I have a full lifetime licence of Directory Opus
Pro (from now on DO). Its version number is the latest as of 160723. My win 10 is 22H2 build 19045.3208 with all updates) based on a mobo of ASUS Rampage V Edition 10, 64 gigs of ram and 2 EVGA 1080i's in SLI.... all water cooled except the ram.

Bear with me.....

During this year, I have experienced a fault in win 10, which I thought was one of the winups. How it occurs is that slowly, font single letters start disappearing in my browser URL....so I tested this with many including my favourite Librewolf, Ungoogled chrome, and edge (the latest version of Edge 114.1823.82)...the issue the same, and it gets worse the longer I leave it (more letters disappear the longer I use it). It also effects Kaspersky Total Security (KTS) fonts when I open it (from the task bar) until there are no fonts left. The only workaround I found was to reload the browsers and close KTS totally and open it again, but eventually, this becomes a pain in the backside. Eventually it does the same thing. Additionally, when I go to the fonts option in control panel, I was unable to execute it...

Many searches in Google/DDG/Qwant etc gave me no joy, so......

After 3 months of this, I had had enough so last week I started to reload the pc, using Acronis as my imaging software, backing up along the way. Cutting a long story short, I got to a point without DO, then loaded DO again and looked for the issue and there it was.
I removed all of DO using M$ uninstaller in control panel. I was fully expecting it to rear its ugly head, but simply it went away with DOs removal. So I tried it again to test my hypothesis...loaded it with all the options and bang, there was the issue again. Removed it and rebooted and the issue disappeared.

I am convinced there is an issue with DO... somewhere! Or maybe a clash of software

Well, that is about it! Over to you guys. Looking forward to your kind response.

Best

Levers

2

There is no way I can think of that Opus can affect how fonts are rendered in your web browser. The two things are unconnected.

There’s more likely to be an underlying problem with the system, fonts or graphics drivers that could be triggered by something Opus (or probably other apps) is doing, but Opus won’t ultimately be the cause, as it has no effect on web browsers like that. It isn’t involved in how they render their fonts.

3

This reminds me of the early days of virus software (when it was distributed on floppy disks), when there were a number of joke viruses that were installed not secretly, but openly. You had to do it yourself. (Sometimes, of course, colleagues would do this work for you without your knowledge. This added to the fun and increased the volume of cries for help).

One of these programs slowly dropped all the letters (like slowly falling rain) until there was not a single letter left on the screen. A yawning void.

Another displayed a warning:

"Caution: Water in drive A!" (Sounds of gurgling water)
"Drive must be dried! (Sounds of a blow dryer)
"Done!"

The little programs could be stopped immediately with the [ESC] key and caused great amusement.

4

This sounds like the same issue, on a machine without Opus installed. It was solved by creating a new user account on the PC:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/all/font-rendering-problemletters-and-some-icons/62c4fe57-3a4c-4fcd-8ae7-a8b88df3abda

Others with a similar issue found it stopped by turning off hardware acceleration in Chrome, which implies a GPU driver bug:

https://support.google.com/chrome/thread/2308245/text-half-missing?hl=en

No mention of Opus there either. It’s very unlikely Opus is really involved here.

5

time: 5.11 am GMT

Hello Leo and Itisi,
Thx guys for getting back to me...was indeed appreciated.
Reimaged from previous image as it crashed late last night.
Re my load...all ASUS drivers were loaded and all driver updates were also done. So winups are complete. My GTX 1080 SLI driver was up to date as of yesterday. A 4 port USB add in card driver applied. Office updates are done as of today. Then a scan now and DISM from (Redirecting) code was run using cmd with admin privleges. Win 10 fixed the issues...(I have log if you wish)
What I tried today was painful but gave me light. Ran the install software and got to the options such as default with folders, default.FTP etc. The load of DO (was not legitimized, NO addition of the certificate), these load were default in initialization: language english, Pro edition selected, dont load at win start up, then tried each of all the remaining the options was done one at a time turning off it off but letting the remaining selection being on. The first being default folders option passed (with rest on). So next trial was done with folders options on (it passed ok). All the remaining options failed default: FTP, default zip and default picture/sound all failed (what I mean is that it caused the issue). I then tried the same procedure with the same stating point and options. That is, all options including folders as above, then one at time with the rest of the option off (the first round above was with rest on). FTP, and zip, and picture and sound caused the issue again.

Ok, I used hardware acceleration on but this was done with a firefox clone (librewolf). It took me 5 hours plus to do the above. Will try a few of the option with hardware acceleration off, have a look at the rest of your counsel and get back to you.
Best
Levers

6

Hello all
Thx for your counsel....I have been reloading, which has taken priority
But today 5.50 am GMT22/07/23, I have tried all options given to from Leo and Itsi
Sadly all these options failed.

Anyone with any other counsel?

Levers

7

Hi Itsi and Leo
After a week or so, I have reached the limit of my abilities to go further
Summary results of the issue: it is NOT the main load of DO. The issue raises its head in setting the extra options. It is Not the language choice, loading DO at start up and replacing explorer donot cause the issue. It is one or more of the remaining 3 selections. Each one by themselves will cause it, and and one or more together will cause the issue. I had one last program reaction after I rebooted (I had swiched on all 3 options that caused the issue): FTP issue sent a warning that it had fallen back to CHM.

It is not a virus or malware as my 2 antimalware solutions (Malwarebytes and Kaspersky Total) both have scanned C: many tmes over many days and havent found anthing. Moreover, they are both updated every 15 mins

Is it time to out this to M$?
All issues suggested in all the posts from Leo and Itsi have failed.

Is there anyone out there who has faced this?
Anyone with believeable counsel would be appreciated.

Thanks for your responses

Levers

8

Please, don't get me wrong: I am certainly no expert, but I follow my grandmother's motto at all times.

"You can be stupid, but you have to know how to help yourself."

Here's one step you possibly could try. It is a German AntiVirus Solution. Alas I do not know how you could get it outside of Germany. You need to buy a certain edition of a PC-Magazine ("c't", well reputed, ~€10,-) (If you're interested I can find out for you)

The basic idea is to run the AntiVirus software from a DVD or Stick using Ubuntu while the PC's OS is not running at all.

I've translated some info from

Desinfec't from heise Security is the successor to Knoppicillin and scans your computer for viruses, Trojans and other malware.

Unlike conventional virus scanner software, Desinfec't does not run as a Windows program, but as a live system on a USB stick or DVD. This allows the software to better analyze a potentially infected Windows system because it is not running. This means that existing malware cannot actively hide from the scan and could be detected more easily.

The operating system used for Desinfec't is the Linux distribution Ubuntu. Windows users should not be put off by this, as all the necessary icons are located on the desktop of Desinfec't and perform the described function with a simple double-click.

Download and use Desinfec't
The current Desinfec't 20 22 is available in the c't special edition and on a USB stick. Buyers of the magazine will find information on how to download an ISO image for Desinfec't. Buyers of the USB stick will receive Desinfec't as well as a PDF version of the c't special issue. On heise+ you can also find a detailed manual for Desinfec't 2022

Once that has failed ...

  • Create a Linux-Boot-Stick and run ClamAV from it. Under Linux of course; that's the idea: not using Windows.
  • Have you ever tried reproducing your installation on a different but similar machine (same OS, same installation)
  • Taking this stuff to your PC store for them to take a look at?
  • Your measures don't seem particularly cost-effective. If you calculate your hour with only $20,- ...

If one of my machines was giving me that much aggro, I would skip the cause and effect research and just rip out the HDs. And start with a newly purchased, pristine HD. (Manual reinstall, no image)

On the other hand, if you want to write the definitive article on how to solve this damn problem ...

@Levers, I am so sorry, but my 2 cents are probably really only worth 2 cents