wonky font error on XP Home laptop

I'm posting this here because I'm not sure if this is a virus/malware issue or if it's a screwy OS issue.

I'm working on a friend's laptop. It's running XP home edition.

The language font has been changed to something like wingdings. It appears on all the Windows icons, tabs, windows, etc, and also in the menus of all the applications that I've tried.

I tried a system restore, changing the default language in the control panel, and changing the windows theme, but to no avail.

I'd check the font folder in the windows directory, but I'm not sure how with being able to read it.

Does anyone have any ideas for tackling this problem?

 

tried that. One of the first things, actually.

 

Right-click an empty space on the Desktop and select Properties. Appearance tab>Advanced button. For Item: use the drop down and select Menu what font is being used?