Help please with wrangling Windows 7 fonts

Question

This may seem off-topic, but I'm hoping the practical expertise of posters here in working with fonts might provide some insight.  I've posted in Windows-centric forums, but most general users seem not to understand font issues, so couldn't respond.  Any help would be appreciated.
So.  I have two questions, please:
1)  My version of Windows 7 (Australian) comes bundled with other fonts included on a "regional" basis, including dozens of Asian languages.  Congrats to Microsoft for making these available, but they're not optional;  they're installed in the Windows\Fonts folder, and marked as system files, so if they're moved to another location (with the intention of handling them with a Font Manager and making them available on-call) the system just restores them in the folder at the next reboot.  In the meantime, they clog the installed fonts list — most of them, uselessly, for any individual user.  Is there any way of bringing these under control?
and
2)  My copy of Windows 7 does a kind of autofill on fonts, where missing glyphs are filled in with glyphs generated by the system, that appear in the Font Display and Font Properties windows, but also appear in my Font Manager's cascaded display.  It makes it much harder to choose fonts that have the glyphs I need, even though the match in the display is often not a very good one — it's often not hard to spot, but it makes the process of choosing much more laborious.  And strangely, it doesn't happen for every font, but I've been unable to find what determines whether the system substitutes fonts or leaves the glyph spaces blank.  And I haven't been able to find any documentation or mention of this behaviour, let alone any way to modify it or switch it off.  I'm surprised that I haven't even seen it mention in discussions.  Can anyone help with suggestions or insight on this please?  Ideally, how do I switch this off?
Thank you for any responses.

Answer 1

In terms of fonts that Windows 7 installs in its C:\Windows\Fonts directory, you delete, move, or manage those at your own risk. Some are required by Windows itself and others are assumed to be available by applications from Microsoft and others. Be careful.
You should also be aware that many system vendors install their own “added value software” on new systems in addition to Windows itself. (Some would designate some of this dubious “added value software” as shovelware.) Such software may also install fonts. Personally, I've seen some such software add upwards of 50 to 100 mediocre typefaces to the system. All such fonts are certainly deletable assuming you either delete the shovelware, don't use it, or at least don't use the funtionality that calls upon such fonts.
In terms of what you describe as autofill on fonts, Windows and various Windows applications do have a function by which any “missing glyphs” in a font are filled by comparable glyphs from some other system font per configuration in the Windows registry. You actually see this using the Character Map utility where it appears that all fonts have all glyphs (or at least all TrueType fonts have all glyphs).
The good news is that within Adobe applications, such autofill as you describe it does not occur. You get the pink box. To see what glyphs are actually defined in a font, you should look at the glyphs panel for the font in question. Only the glyphs actually defined in the chosen font will appear.
          - Dov