Default font in IE italicised

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.configuration_manage (More info?)

In IE, some not all font are intalics whiel on other computers it shows
normally when loading the same page.

Strangely, if I check the "Ignore font styles specified in Web pages", the
style becomes normal again but some other characters used in rare pages -
like the left and right arrow characters to navigate within an application -
then become numbers. How can I fix this problem?
We also use Palm Desktop and the fonts are also in italics for data only.
This is on WinXP home edition.
Aldo