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I am getting strange numeric symbols or tiles instead of text when using Firefox. Repeated reloads and virus scans have not fixed it. I can't find a patch. Help! I hate IE!

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  • Last reply by cor-el

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Each time I open Firefox, I get blocks or tiles of numbers for each character instead of text. The tiles appear as composites of four digits, stacked two by two. At some websites, normal text does appear in boxes but mostly as this numeric gibberish. The functionality of the Firefox software does not seem to have been affected. But if I can't read it, I can't use it.

Each time I open Firefox, I get blocks or tiles of numbers for each character instead of text. The tiles appear as composites of four digits, stacked two by two. At some websites, normal text does appear in boxes but mostly as this numeric gibberish. The functionality of the Firefox software does not seem to have been affected. But if I can't read it, I can't use it.

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Try to set the pref gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.use_gdi_table_loading to false on the about:config page.

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.