And what are you going to do when someone emails you a document or PDF that requires a font you've deleted (e.g. Arial, Courier New)? Very few people bother embedding standard Windows fonts in such files because it is expected recipients will have all the standard fonts already installed on their systems.

__________________
Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

Well to start, I don't have any email on my PC. None at all. I use webmail. I don't access webmail on my computer...that was a $100 mistake I made years ago, and I don't make the same mistake twice. When I want to check email (which is very rarely) I do that at the public library. They can deal with the acne-ridden technovandals and their viruses much cheaper and easier than me.

But let's just say someone did manage to get an email or pdf to my computer, and it was in one of the myriad crappy fonts I ditched. What happens? It gets deleted, along with the junkmails. Same as what happens to anything sent in Spanish, Russian, or any other language I don't speak. If it works I may read it; if not it gets deleted. If it even hints at being spam, it gets deleted without even trying to open it. That stuff just doesn't mean anything to me. Now customizing Word does mean a lot, changing the defaults to cater to my convenience means more, and not having to dig through an irritating list of junk fonts to find what I want means the most. I may not be able to ditch the 'system fonts', but if there is any way to expunge the rest, and replace the junk with fonts I like...that's what I want. The question is not should I have it done. The question is can it be done, and if so, which ones are the 'system fonts' that I have to endure.