EVERY time I open Windows (version 3.1), a box pops out with the message 'Error. Cannot find DIALOG.FON'. After double-clicking on CLOSE, Windows starts normally. I can find no DIALOG.FON files anywhere. How do I eliminate this inconvenience? TONY WONG Lai Chi Kok This error could be caused by a couple of problems. You will have to go through a process of elimination to find the cause and fix it.
First, double check if the pop-up error message tells you the name of the application that cannot find DIALOG.FON. If so, reinstall that application. If not, read on.
Windows itself could be looking for the file in question on startup, a font file, perhaps, in your case.
When you install a new font, a line with the .FON extension (in the case of non-TrueType and non-PostScript files) and its related file is written into your WIN.INI file under 'fonts'.
If you, at some point, deleted the DIALOG.FON file from your system but did not remove the matching line from WIN.INI, Windows will not be able to find the file every time it starts up and runs through WIN.INI.
Run SYSEDIT using the RUN command in Program Manager's File pull-down menu. Go into WIN.INI, search for the DIALOG.FON line, delete it and restart Windows.
If the problem persists, it means one of your Windows applications, rather than Windows itself, is looking for the DIALOG.FON file on startup but cannot find it. Go to your Windows Start Up folder and delete the application icons in it.