It's not the appearance that's the problem.  It would appear that some file
has gone missing while I was trying to go through the steps of fixing a
startup problem I had and I also removed some old applications.  Could they
have 'shared' any system files and now they are gone?

The fonts that are displaying incorrectly are what are normally verdana etc
on websites used frequently ie, ebay at the sign in page is partially
spidery.  Very disconcerting for someone with bad eyesight.  By the way,
while typing this post, the Post and Close button fonts are weird too but all
else on this window are fine.

I had a look at that article you mentioned and I don't feel confident enough
to do this myself in case I really stuff it up!  Although I must say, that
registry key looks familiar - I hope nothing's gone wrong with that?!

Thanks

Tessa