Dingbat font woes...

[HelenG]

This is a very recent turn of events and becoming worse by the day...

When I download dingbat fonts, I unzip them to a dingbat folder off the root. To use them (in Paint Shop Pro) I double click the file I want, minimize it to the task bar, use the text tool within PSP and scroll to the open dingbat font. This method has served me well for a couple of years now.

Lately, however, just attempting to open a dingbat font for viewing in Win95B freezes my system immediately... ctrl+alt+del is of no use... and there is no way out except to hit the reset button on the tower.

Further to that, if I *do* manage to open a dingbat and minimize it to the task bar, when I scroll to use it in PSP it no longer has any dingbat properties... ie: it has somehow been converted to a serif text font. After closing both PSP and the font, I head back into the dingbat folder to have another look at the rogue file and sure enough, there are no dingbats left to see anymore... all files are showing a text font which, upon viewing, seizes the pc up solid.

The problem is not there when viewing/using regular font downloads. I do not load fancy fonts into the system files as I don't use them regularly and would rather not slow down the system by doing so.

I'm running Win95B on a virus-free PenIII 800 with 384 Mb RAM.

Thanks ever so much for any and all thoughts on this... I'm at my wits end....

 

[Dan O]

I think your problem is a Paint Shop Pro problem not an OS problem, so I move it here to get you more help. I don't have a clue what the problem is as I don't use Paint Shop Pro very much.

 

[HelenG]

I appreciate your time and trouble in this regard.

 

[eddie5659]

Hiya

What version are you using? There are some patches here that may help:

http://www.jasc.com/patches.asp

You can download the correct patch, but if you could tell us the version number as well, we can search in depth for you.

Regards

eddie

 

[HelenG]

I'm using PSP 7.04. I am very grateful for your response, eddie, but on further investigation it appears that PSP is not the culprit here. If I download a font, dingbat or text, from anywhere on the web, unzip it into any folder or even my desktop... and attempt to open it (not in PSP... just with Win95) my system crashes immediately.

Things get really funky when I try to access fonts from within, PSP, I'll grant you.... but they seem to be corrupted even before that.

Just as a 'for instance', I have a folder with lots of different dingbat fonts which I've collected through the years and have used over and over again with no difficulty. However, every one of them has somehow converted itself into a plain text font. The dingbat names are still there when I open the file, ie: Butterflips or Ornaments... but where the designs were once shown, only plain ABC text has taken its place. All this is happening before I even launch PSP.

And I only get a short glimpse at these files before the system freezes solid once again...

I have a sinking feeling that my troubles may have only just begun.

Again, eddie, thank you very much for your reply.

Helen

 

[Rockn]

Check your system resouces (available drive space) and also scan for a virus with the most recent virus definitions.

 

[HelenG]

Rockn.... I've got 28 gigabytes free on a 30 gig hard drive... and I just ran a virus scan with up-to-the-minute definitions... the system is virus-free.

Thanks for reminding me to do that...

The dingbat font files that crash this system while trying to view them weigh in at an average of 6 Kb... which only adds insult to injury...

It's Twilight Zone material... I can almost hear Rod Sterling from here... ;-)

 

[rhettman5]

I guess the next logical question is...did you install or remove any programs before this problem occured ?? ...perhaps, if you did, we will get a clue...Rhett

 

[HelenG]

Rhett... the only program I had recently installed was a pattern-generating utility (for creating seamless tiles and backgrounds) which wasn't too exciting so I deleted it within a couple of days.

In the event this will shed some light on the problem, I asked a friend of mine to go to a certain site... download a dingbat font called Teddy Bears... unzip it... open it... and take a screenshot of the opened file. I did exactly the same thing and have put the results side by side on the attached .gif. Mine is on the left... hers is on the right.

Notice how even the font information at the top of the document is missing... replaced with boxes? And I get all of one teddy bear and the rest is shown as jagged text? This is what happens with each and every font I attempt to download.

Thank you for your response, Rhett.... I'm grateful to all of you...

Helen

 

[HelenG]

I'm sorry... apparently I'm not using the attachment feature properly. I've uploaded the image to my site and it can be viewed here:

http://www.niagara.com/~theshack/temp/comparison.gif

Thank you...