For your information, Patchou found the problem.
He told me to send a screenshot of each tab in my "Regional And Languages Option"
Then he told me this:
quote:
Originally posted by Patchou's Email
Hi Mike,
I think these options could very well be the problem… except if you have a very good reason for them, could you uncheck “Turn off advanced text services”, restart your computer and check if the problem is fixed?. If not, please check “Install files for East Asian languages”, restart windows and check again (it is important to do the first test separately).
Thank you,
Patchou.
And if you are wondering why this is caused:
quote:
Originally posted by Another Email from Patchou
Hi Mike,
The reason is pretty technical but I can explain it to you for reference if you’re interested: by default Messenger sets the text controls of the contact list to an Auto-Font mode. This means that the control is in charge of choosing its own font based on what text is displayed. For various reasons, Messenger Plus! must disable the Auto-Font mode when it displays colors and in that case, the responsibility of choosing the right font goes to Windows, not the control. Windows chooses fonts based on the settings you changed and that’s why you had problems.
Thank you for helping to solve the situation, it will prove to be useful later when people will complain about the same thing 
Patchou
So to fix the problem in Windows XP:
Start -> Control Panel -> Switch to Classic View -> Regional and Language Options
From the window that opens : Languages -> Check "Install files for East Asian Languages"
Then in the same tab, click details -> Advanced -> Uncheck "Turn off advanced text services" if checked
Click OK and then again OK.
Windows will start copying some files.
You might asked to insert your Windows XP CD!
After the file copying progress is finished, windows will ask to restart your computer.
Choose yes.
Then, the characters should display normaly
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