Removing foreign language fonts

Hi Gyan

Thank you for taking the time to let us know that MS isn't ignoring this problem. I work with several graphics programs on a regular basis, each of which offers every system font in the Win7 list. At least, with Office, one can hide many of the foreign language fonts, but not so with non-MS programs. The ability to remove these fonts should be a major priority for Win7 SP1. Again, thank you for the information.

For me what is really frustrating about this is not so much that there are scores of fonts I will never ever use, but the fact that the guaranteed list I will NEVER use always appears at the top! If there is going to be an @ symbol, why not put it before Arial and Times New Roman--or better yet, let me pick my 5-10 favorites? Why force Batang and GungSu and DontCare and ThisStinks (my translation of the Asian fonts) to the top? Who made that decision?

I am painstakingly following the instructions above, but since I may have dozens of fonts that I want to delete, it is frustrating also to have to go into each one individually and jump through all the hoops of reassigning the permissions. Microsoft does not pay me for this, yet I have to take a significant amount of work time to do this.

What an impressive ten-month thread!  Yet, still no easy fix either from Microsoft or from all these resourceful tech gurus.  Until now...  I stumbled on a simple solution.

On a long-shot, I downloaded a program I found on C-NET's software site (http://download.cnet.com/windows/) that had good reviews and the uncatchy name of "High-Logic MainType" (from high-logic.com).

This simple program effortlessly allowed me to uninstall the long list of unwanted files that are otherwise so difficult to remove and sent them to a backup directory.  (To be safe, in case I later need, say, Lao I did not delete any files.) Three quick clicks (right click, uninstall, yes) and done! Sweet. Uncluttered.

Before Windows will let MainType load, it always prompts you to affirm that you want to allow the "program to make changes to the computer."  Presumably, that way it gets authority to uninstall those protected fonts (as well as regular fonts). The program has many other features for font management that I have found helpful today -- but just its power to delete the several dozen unwanted, menu-muddying fonts makes it more than worth its $49 price!

Problem solved!

Well, BillyXXX, as you say, "Problem solved!" But it's just one more instance of having to buy a third-party application just to make a Microsoft piece of s.... s.... software! work properly, or work at all. I recently upgraded to Win 7 Pro, quite reluctantly I might add. I was reassured that I could make my legacy apps (expensive apps!) work by using XP Mode - which is why I had to upgrade to Pro. What a headache that was. And talk about jumping through the hoops.

I am one to plead with Microsoft to fix this $%&^$# font issue. I'm not technical. I'm neither a programmer, a developer, nor a system administrator. I'm a user. Wading through all of those fonts in a font selection screen in apps such as FrameMaker, CorelDraw, or PhotoShop, is a royal pain, time consuming, and confusing. It also precludes my installing many of the fonts that I've been using simply because adding them would make the list even longer and harder to work with. If there is a fix, I don't want to have to even think about going to the command line to do something about it. All of these proposed work-arounds are all well and good, but they aren't for the average user. Isn't the whole idea of a computer to make our lives and our work simpler, easier, and faster? In that respect, Microsoft is going in the wrong direction.