Resolved Chinese characters in menus and dialogs - don't know what they mean

For the last two weeks or so, I'm seeing Chinese characters appearing as options in Windows XP and Firefox (3.0.11) dialog boxes and menus, along with the usual English words as alternate options. Since I don't know what they mean or where they come from, and they can't be scraped or copied so I can post them for translation or for others to look at, I'm stumped.

Is there a way I can post a screenshot for others to see and maybe translate them for me? I'd like to uninstall (or at least use English as the default language for) whatever program is causing them, but I can't figure out which one it is. Thanks!

Frank D

 

Hi Frank,

Two ways to post screen shots:

1> Become a contributing member.
http://www.windowsbbs.com/subscribe.php

2>Can you take a screen shot, and upload it here: http://www.filedropper.com/
Post the download link, provided by filedropper here.

(Once uploaded you can include the url "pointing and linked to your file" within your post here. )

 

Thank you, Goddez1. I tried the FileDropper option and for some unknown reason, it would NOT let me paste the screenshot file into the "Upload" box. Seems to be my luck these days.

As an alternate idea, I uploaded two screenshots to my Picasa web album. Here is the URL: http://picasaweb.google.com/frankd14612/Screenshot#5361324588545904498

I hope this works. Thanks!

Frank D

 

Screenshot works like a champ.

Is this strictly a Firefox issue? If so, this post needs a forum redirect, I will wait for such.

This may give me time to see if I can pin down a cause for this issue. Any reason why your using such a old version of Firefox which up to 3.5.1 as of today?

ATTN: ADMINISTRATORS
This post looks like it needs a redirect to Firefox Forum.
Thanks.

 

Thanks for the update! I'm glad the screenshots were successful.

It was hard to tell because I couldn't read the Chinese words, but now that you ask, I think I can see that it may be just a Firefox issue, and a forum redirect may be appropriate. Thanks!

The reason for my using the older version of Firefox is the usual story: I installed version 3.5.1 and 7 or 8 of my 40 or so add-ons stopped working. To me, what's the point of using Firefox without all its add-ons? It turns an eagle into a chicken. Every time I tweak FF just the way I want it, they update it and break the add-ons! I might as well use Internet Explorer or Chrome and have the same effect. But I'll continue to use the older version of FF until the add-on makers come up with fixes for the broken add-ons or until Mozilla cans the version I'm using. Sorry about that!

I'll await your verdict on the forum. Thanks for your help!

Frank D

P.S. It's nice to have a Goddez looking out for me!

P.P.S. Sorry, I meant that to be funny, not sexist.

 

Is there any way to get links, rather screen shots? If I understand the problem Firefox 3.0.11 is far from being an old version. It was updated to 3.0.12, yesterday, or the day before. None of my add-ons have stopped working with the 3.0.x versions.
Of course, one may want to use every add-on knows to man, but add-ons, as well as tabs contribute to a slowdown, at least of loading the program. There is no way to compare an add-on loaded Firefox with Google Chrome, or IE.
With issues involving foreign characters, one should look at View|Character encoding.
Anyway, the way that the issue is presented, it appears that Firefox is doing weird stuff at all sites, but only one is shown (both pictures related to the same site, a web hosting site). There was nothing chinese about the site, but could get no info with any of my browsers, until Googl Chrome loaded it after several minutes. Why not deal with them?
I have both FF3.0.12 and 3.5.1, beside Google Chrome, and IE8.

 

Westside, thanks for your help with this.

(1) These characters appear only on menus and in dialog boxes, and (2) all my attempts at getting the characters themselves instead of their images have failed, so I don't know of any way to get links. I was hoping a Chinese-speaking person would see them and would be able to give me the missing link to their source. I've never visited any Chinese-based websites or downloaded any Chinese-language program or chosen that language from a language list, so I just can't imagine how I picked them up.

I downloaded FF 3.0.12 yesterday (and NONE of my add-ons were broken, as they were in FF 3.5) and the Chinese characters are still there.

I use FF add-ons as pieces of the ideal browser and with them I have a beautifully working machine. I don't have any slowdowns. FF with all my add-ons does everything I want to do as fast as I need it done.

I'm comparing FF with Chrome or IE only to say I've tried them and wouldn't want to use them because they don't do all the things FF does. I like what I've got, but I just don't want unreadable options in my menus and dialog boxes.

I've done View > Character Encoding over and over in about a dozen different ways, with no change to the Chinese characters.

I have no idea at which or how many sites this is happening. If a Chinese-speaking person would take a look at these characters, all my questions might be answered.

You say, "There was nothing Chinese about the site, but could get no info with any of my browsers, until Google Chrome loaded it after several minutes. Why not deal with them? "

I don't know what you mean by "deal with them." If you mean change browsers, thanks, but no. I'll just live with the problem, since it doesn't seem to be life-threatening.

I appreciate your help.

Frank D

 

Sorry for my unclear sentence. "Them" are the website owners. Many of the problems encountered by users can be corrected by the people who run the website. I don't think that a chinese-speaking person could help. But, since I don't have full access to the website, I cannot comment any further. But what is the menu editor, of what, I mean, shown in the pictures. Especially the Advanced Mode which indicates that Chinese script is not visible?
I would be curious to find out why it takes such a long time to load, with any browser.

 

Westside, I'm confused.

There seems to be a disconnect here. I don't know what website you're talking about. I've never chosen the option shown in Chinese, and have no intention of doing so until I know where it goes, what it's offering, and how I got it. What's more, I have no desire to choose an option that was dropped on me without my permission. So I have no way of knowing anything about such a website, or the people who might run it.

I think a Chinese-speaking person could tell me at least what the option says or is offering, and that might lead me to figuring out where it comes/came from.

The menu editor shown in the second screenshot is named Menu Editor 1.2.6 by Devon Jensen and Nickolay Ponomarev and comes from Add-ons for Firefox at:
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/710

I don't think I said anything negative about Firefox or anything in it taking a long time to load. I'm happy with version 3.0.12. The only thing I said I didn't like about FF in general was that every time a new version comes out, it breaks many of the previous version's add-ons. But that's a fact of life and I'm not going to switch from Firefox for some other browser just for that.

Again, I'm sorry, but I don't understand some of what you're saying. Could you clarify, please? Thanks!

Frank

 

Frank D: Is it possible that the "Chinese" characters are actually Japanese? I can't read either one, and whether they're Chinese or Japanese may not make any difference in solving your mystery, but I thought I'd raise the question in case it just might help in some way.

 

Bobbo,
I thought about that before posting, but decided (despite no Asian language experience) that the characters looked more squarish than cursive (that is, more straight up-and-down than sloping). Referring to the bottom of the Google News page for some limited samples, I think the characters in question look more like Chinese (up-and-down) than Japanese (sloping), although if and when a Chinese person reviews this thread (someday!), I could stand corrected.

Thanks for your suggestion.

Frank

 

Frank, I googled your ftp://files.165.cyberlink.net and it is connected to Powerdrive?? Just a long shot, but do you have Powerdrive software installed and is there a conflict with Firefox addons?? I would try an uninstall of the software to see if there is a problem. The characters are definitely Asian. Cheers Neil.

 

Neil,
I've never heard of or used Powerdrive, and have never knowingly gone to such a site even to look around. So, the answer to your questions is No, and obviously I can't uninstall what I didn't install. I've never had a DVD player, which I assume is what Powerdrive might be related to. So I'm still mystified.

Also, I just checked with SpyBot, Malwarebytes' AntiMalware, BitDefender Scan, Advanced SystemCare, and I have AVG 8.5 running all the time along with ZoneAlarm Pro, and they all report that my system is clean and free of malware.

Thanks for checking!

Frank

 

Worth a try. Cheers Neil

 

Hi Frank,

Is this mixed language for menus and dialogues box effecting all downloads, just this one, or is random?

I'm still looking for an answer. I believe the ftp site is related to the file you either downloaded or attempted to download, a scanner driver or ocr software perhaps ( the pi_finereader_v4_01.exe? ) While I got to this file via a round about way, it is a microtek file @ftp://files.165.cyberlink.net. I may be wrong here but since this post is boiling down to a best guesstimate, this is mine.

As for the Chinese text, this maybe a font issue and the cause is as yet unknown. While I don't speak Chinese, I can copy and paste into a translator and as near as I can figure this is A Chinese translation for what would be the "English context menu choices" for the "download dialogue box ". See:
http://www.microsofttranslator.com/Default.aspx

Set Chinese to English, using my best interpretation of the symbols, your attached files provided:

使用送你採下載< I got> "Use the send you download the mining ".
*Note*
I'm missing a symbol so I don't know how far off the mark this is. You may have better luck since you have the capacity to copy the actual Chinese characters.

This is what you should be seeing in the firefox download dialogue box:
http://i.zdnet.com/blogs/eb_ff_download_01.png

--------------------------------------
All the above said and done...
since you've explained this, as happening within the last two weeks, I wonder what has changed within those two weeks?

Have you tried restore point that may be far enough back that this problem is cleared up?

Have you tried logging into another account and checking to see if this is duplicated in that account? For that matter you could backup your current Firefox account and create a new one to see if problem is duplicated.

Have you tired "Firefox in safemode" which would eliminate extensions or theme as the root of the problem? (That's firefoxes safemode not windows! ) See following link for the How-To.

Safemode does not address or eliminate plug in issue. Outdated, buggy or plugins that don't play well with others can cause all kinds of strange problems. Plug-ins would all have to be disabled. If problem is cleared up, each would have to be re-enabled, one at a time, until the culprit is found.
This Firefox link and it's sublinks should help. I'm merely passing it along and am not instructing you to try all suggested.

http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Troubleshooting+extensions+and+themes

The procedures in the following link can reek all kings of problems so be forewarned. A looksee can't hurt but please don't change defaults or associations you have now without knowing how to get them back.
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Changing_media_handling_behaviour#Changing_download_actions

---------------------------------------
As I said, I will keep looking for a specific reference to your problem but I have thus far been unsuccessful. This is a curiosity.

 

Frank,
I am doing the best I can, basing my replies on the information you provided. Yes, I gathered that you were using cyberlink.net, as tried by retiredlearner. This is no more than a guess. I was looking at your second screenshot. If you were accessing a different website, there is nothing which I can do without some hint.
I have serious doubts that you will get any clues, knowing what the oriental characters stand for. Select to Save file (as shown in the screenshot).
Have you tried whatever you got the screenshot from to start in Safe Mode Firefox?

 

Goddez,

You, Westside and RetiredLearner are all acting as Sherlock Holmses on this case, for which I thank you all.

At this point it looks like you, Goddez, have found the culprit. Your guess was on the mark.

(1) This Chinese-language option appears in all download dialog boxes and context menus, not just the one I showed in the screenshot. It's a constant.

(2) You've correctly identified the site, cyberlink.net, and now I know how it happened. I downloaded both scanner and OCR software from it about 10 days ago. I didn't think of it before because the download wasn't for me, but for the wife of a friend who had recently passed away. She's not computer-literate. She asked me to attach a scanner, a Microtek, to her new Acer netbook (which I helped her buy and set up) which has no CD-ROM and connects to the Internet via dial-up. I used my own PC to download the scanner and OCR software, transferred it to a USB drive, and installed it on her PC. The scanner is now working well. What I didn't realize at the time was that the Cyberlink site added these Chinese-language prompts to my Firefox download dialog box and context menus.

(3) I'm amazed that you could copy and paste the Chinese characters into a translator. I tried, but they just wouldn't be copied. Now that I have your characters, I pasted them into "NiceTranslator" and got the following out: "Approve the use of sending you the download" which at last we can see is harmless. I'm relieved at this, but just having it there is a pain, in addition to which it sets itself up as the default.

(4) My restore points go back only a week, so that wouldn't do me any good, and logging into or creating other profiles or accounts and eliminating plug-ins to see if things would change wouldn't do me much good considering I want to keep all the ones I have.

(5) I checked out your Firefox help links and others that I found on Google, but none of them -- including the ones that change the about:config items -- did any good. After trying all of them, the Chinese prompt is still there.

As you said, this is a curiosity because no one, not even Mozilla, seems to have a remedy for it.

After all is said and done, however, at least I can conclude that it's not life-threatening.

Thanks to you, Westside and RetiredLearner for applying your detective skills to my little problem.

Frank

 

Westside,

I haven't been as clear in giving all the facts or sharp enough to act on your suggestions as I should have, for which I apologize. It's a complicated, mystifying problem and it looks like the Mozilla Help doesn't have a fix for it.

I now see that you and retiredlearner, in addition to Goddez1, all figured out that cyberlink.net was behind it, but I just didn't understand that even though it was in front of me.

I appreciate your help and for staying with it. Please see my response (#18) for a recap.

Although we now know where the unwanted characters/prompt came from, we still don't know how to get rid of them.

Frank

 

That's why I suggested that you contact the website, i.e. cyberlink.net. They may be clueless, but they may be able to help you. It would not hurt trying.