Spodo, I did some quick research on this and it's not unique to today's software. It appears it's either a temporary compatibility glitch or Arial is corrupted. No big deal in either case.
Some people have said that they have had programs give them this error and it was because Arial's corrupted. This probably happens with fonts more than we realize it, but we notice it on fonts like Arial only because they're so commonly used. (It's certainly my favorite.) If you want to test it, you can open Notepad, select format>fonts and you'll, of course, get your font dialog box. Select Arial, if it isn't already, and regular should be one of the options. If it isn't, the font's corrupted.
You can replace it from the internet - just make sure you don't overwrite with an earlier version - or XP has a repair option from your setup disks that allows you to only have it replace any corrupted files from the original setup. Don't remember, though, if there's any issues with it changing settings. Don't think they're are.
Some have reported, though, that the softwares they were having problems with were just glitching. One fixed it with a reboot - they were probably files or settings in the original setup that didn't install right without reboot, whether it was intentional or not. Another fixed it by moving Arial out the fonts folder. The offending program then opened correctly. They then closed the program, moved Arial back in to the folder, and the program opened correctly thereafter.
Good luck! Let us know what happens.
