Apparently your Windows 95 or 98 fonts have been changed and do not display the appropriate metrics (the line height does not match with the normal definition expected by the default theme for Windows.)
As you seem to use the default theme for Windows, it uses the following fonts:
# tabs and window labels
CONTROL_TEXT_FONT_NAME=dialog
CONTROL_TEXT_FONT_STYLE=1
CONTROL_TEXT_FONT_SIZE=11
# nothing in 1.4, results list File Title and Library folder names in 1.3
SYSTEM_TEXT_FONT_NAME=verdana
SYSTEM_TEXT_FONT_STYLE=0
SYSTEM_TEXT_FONT_SIZE=10
# results list font in 1.4, results list details in 1.3
USER_TEXT_FONT_NAME=verdana
USER_TEXT_FONT_STYLE=0
USER_TEXT_FONT_SIZE=10
# nothing in 1.4 or 1.3
MENU_TEXT_FONT_NAME=verdana
MENU_TEXT_FONT_STYLE=1
MENU_TEXT_FONT_SIZE=11
# nothing in 1.4 or 1.3
WINDOW_TITLE_FONT_NAME=Georgia
WINDOW_TITLE_FONT_STYLE=1
WINDOW_TITLE_FONT_SIZE=11
# nothing in 1.4 or 1.3
SUB_TEXT_FONT_NAME=Georgia
SUB_TEXT_FONT_STYLE=1
SUB_TEXT_FONT_SIZE=11
Are you sure to have the correct versions of the following fonts:
Verdana, Georgia ?
Also when a font cannot be found, it reverts to a default "virtual font" given an alias name "dialog".
The definition of this font alias is part of the Java installation.
You may look at which version of Java you use, to make sure that the "dialog" virtual font is properly defined for your system.
---
Open the file "font.properties" present in the "lib" subfolder of the Java installation.
(1) If you use Java 1.3.1 or 1.4 You should see something like:
dialog.0=Arial,ANSI_CHARSET
dialog.1=WingDings,SYMBOL_CHARSET
dialog.2=Symbol,SYMBOL_CHARSET
which indicates that the actual font will be searched in this order:
Arial, Wingdings, Symbol.
(2) If you use Java 1.5.0 Beta 1, the "fonts.properties" file should contain something like:
dialog.plain.alphabetic=Arial
dialog.plain.chinese-ms950=MingLiU
dialog.plain.hebrew=David
dialog.plain.japanese=\uff2d\uff33 \u30b4\u30b7\u30c3\u30af
dialog.plain.korean=Gulim
(the format of this file was changed in Java 1.5.0, but users noramlly never need to modify the "font.properties" file which is installed with Java).
Here also, there's an explicit reference to the Arial font to display Latin, Greek and Cyrillic (grouped under the term "alphabetic")
---
So make sure that these 3 core fonts are properly installed in Windows. It's possible that you have incorrect versions of these fonts, or copies that were not built for Windows 98.
So you may need to reinstall the 3 standard Windows fonts from your Windows CDROM or from updates. Some softwares modify core fonts and replace them with fonts with identical names but different metrics:
Arial, Courier New, Time New Roman
Plus these 2 fonts from Internet Explorer, if you want to use the default theme on Windows:
Verdana, Georgia
Alternatively, you may want to try other themes:
- for example the "Windows" theme uses only the native fonts described in the Java installation in "font.properties". But the look and Feel is reset to use the default Windows coloring scheme of your Control panel, and buttons or menus corresponding to the standard Windows Look and Feel.
- or the "Amber" theme which was made to use the Java Metal Look and Feel but with only the default "dialog" virtual font. Without any forced bold character style (I created it for international users, so that they will be able to display the interface correctly with their language, notably for languages written with complex scripts like Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai and Arabic that are difficult to read when displayed with Bold characters).
A screenshot of this theme follows:
(Note that, due to the 256 colors palette (needed because of the progressive background shading), the image is a bit darker than it is in reality with more colors and a more dominant bright yellow). I could have used a 16-bit palette, but I wanted that the image views here keeps at reasonable size.
Note also that this is a development/test version, that has some unreleased items. Also the interface shows the French translation...