Please read this entire message before replying.

First I know how to fix the issue on a temporary basis. I am looking for a permanent fix. I work with foreign language files a lot.

Unfortunately sometimes all the unicode characters in windows explorer, notepad, and other places (as rendered by windows, probably GDI) do not display correctly. That is they display as square blocks, where as they had just been displaying correctly. There are countless methods to temporarily correct the issue.

But again, I want a way to permanently resolve the issue.

What I have tried:

• The silly "Hide fonts based on language settings". This setting only applies to what fonts you see in the fonts folder and font dropdowns. It doesn't disable foreign fonts (doesn't work, or if it does, it is temporary).
• Deleting the font cache file and rebooting (works.. usually, temporary solution).
• Changing my locale and then back (sometimes works, temporary solution).
• Rebooting my PC and getting lucky (50-50 chance, temporary solution).
• Changing my keyboard input/adding foreign keyboard (temporary solution that only seems to work once).
• Reinstalling windows (temporary solution, sometimes lasts a few months though, I have done this 7 times across 3 computers)

What I have not tried:

• Buying Windows Ultimate and installing the interface packs. This is not a solution. I can't read Japanese/Chinese and I do not want my interface in those languages.

What I will not do:

• Switch to a different brand operating system (unix, linux, mac os x)
• Switch to an older version of windows (Windows Vista, XP, 2000, etc).

So can anyone recommend a permanent fix for the problem?