Have you encountered when visiting some websites, you have no idea why you see many question marks and boxes when you think it’s supposed to display text or some sort of characters? This problem is very common for fresh Windows that doesn’t have Microsoft Office or supplemental language installed.
Here’s an example. mEtRiX from Raymond.CC forum has been having this problem for quite a while. When he use Internet Explorer OR Firefox, it shows “question mark” (?) instead of the STAR 
character.
In mEtRiX’s web browser, this is what he sees.
As for my computer, I don’t see the question marks but I see the STAR icon.
Here’s how you can fix this problem and start viewing the characters properly.
First of all, you need to install fonts that cover the characters you need and then configure your browser to use them. On Windows XP, you can install the additional languages installed by going to Start-> Settings -> Control Panel-> Regional and Language Options. In the Languages tab, check the Supplemental language support option(s) you want. Setting both options will install all optional fonts. This adds fonts as well as system support for these languages.
Next, if you have Microsoft Office 2000 and newer versions, you can get the Arial Unicode MS font, which is the most complete. To get it, insert the Office CD, and do a custom install. Choose Add or Remove Features. Click the (+) next to Office Tools, then International Support, then the Universal Font icon, and choose the installation option you want.
If you already installed Microsoft Office 2003, put in the CD, select Add or Remove Features, check Choose advanced customization of applications, click Next. Click the (+) next to Office Shared Features, then International Support, then the Universal Font icon, and choose the installation option you want.
The best practice is to perform a FULL installation of Microsoft Office. That’d solve your unicode character viewing problems. If you don’t have Microsoft Office, I’ve found the link for you to download the Arial Unicode MS font at the end of this article. Just download and copy it to your Windows\Fonts folder.
By default, your web browser should be smart enough to pick the correct fonts to read the characters. Just make sure you have the latest version of your web browser.
[ Download Arial Unicode Font ]
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