I am using Win7. All menus, icons, control panel, desktop everything that is text displays as unreadable symbols. I ran Prevx antivirus and antirootkit/malware remover and everything is clean. Even in (not so) Safe Mode - same problem. I can't attempt a System Restore because I don't know what any of the options are or even know how to navigate there because I can't read anything. Same problem when I launch RegEdit - useless; everything looks like it's written in alien hieroglyphics.

So the good news is this is a dual boot machine and I am still able to boot the old Vista partition and everything is normal. From Vista I am able to view the Win7 harddrive and partition and can navigate perfectly to the Win 7 :\Windows\font directory. Though I am not sure what to do next. Any suggestions?

Same problem as this old post except they were on xp and mine is Win7
http://www.d-a-l.com/help/windows-xp...ust-funky.html

Hi Finnyd and welcome. Unfortunately, I don't know what to tell you on this one. If you have a 2nd computer, you might try stepping through each step to get to System Restore, using one computer as a guide for another.

Short of that, you may have to do a Repair Install. See Startup Repair - Windows 7 features - Microsoft Windows - it might help you get to System Restore, which I would try first.

I was able to get to system restore but it seems to be staying on the restore screen for an inordinate amount of time. How long should I allow system restore to run before I give up on it?

It does not take very long - just a few minutes. So I am afraid that does not look too good. If there is another restore point, you might try that, but it looks like a repair will be needed.

did you install video drivers that comes with the system ?