computer problems

[magicalweasal]

I have two roommates with the same problem of these characters that show up on any field of text possible. One has an hp pavilion dp 5000, the other has a dell latitude d600. Both are running windows XP. A system restore on the dell failed because the system ran into a failure and couldn't restore. Have any of you seen these symbols before and know

Comments

[heyservegod]

looks like either
a) aliens replaced your friends' computers with their own, therefore they are actually reading alien language, OR

b) the default font set for their computer changed to something odd like wingbats or whatever. but it's still pretty strange.

[magicalweasal]

I tried fixing something but I couldn't get all of it.