Does this help?

http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fonts/product.aspx?PID=145

Not exactly. That list contains fonts that I don't even possess. I'm looking for more of a minimalistic list, the basic fonts necessary to run windows and use the web without problems. I know a good bit of the fonts in my windows fonts directory were probably loaded when I installed Microsoft Office, those I definitely don't need, but I don't want to start deleting willy-nilly.

I appreciate the attempt Jackie.

I found the Apple equivalent: http://www.creativetechs.com/tips/SVC-fonts/Minimum_Fonts.html

Still no luck for Windows though.

Andrew, that OS X list is dangerously small. For instance, many of the widgets won't display properly if you limited the fonts down to those. The best list to follow for OS X minimum font required is:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301332

Try this:

http://graphicssoft.about.com/od/aboutgraphics/a/fontoverload_3.htm

Note that this list is for Windows and a few select applications; other applications you may have (e.g., CS2) may require other fonts.

I've also seen suggestions that say to copy all the fonts from C:\Windows\Fonts to a backup folder, then delete everything in the \Fonts folder and let Windows restore the default fonts, but I don't know if I'd do that myself. Plus, all the default but non-critical fonts that you don't want would be restored, too.

That's a good list, I just recently found this resource as well:

http://www.kayskreations.net/fonts/fonttb.html

I'm beginning to think, there isn't a specific list, and that it varies per system. I went with the above, and it shrank my current list significantly. I appreciate the feed back, and hope that this has helped a few of the "quiet commentors" on Typophile.

The only TrueType fonts required by Windows XP are:

• Marlett (hidden by default)
• Tahoma
• Tahoma Bold
• Microsoft Sans Serif
• Franklin Gothic Medium
• Franklin Gothic Medium Italic

If you remove any of the above fonts, Windows XP will automatically restore them within a few seconds.

In addition to those, I recommend that you keep at least the following fonts installed:

• Arial (all four fonts: Regular, Bold, Italic, and Bold Italic)
• Times New Roman (all four)
• Courier New (all four)
• Symbol
• Wingdings

For Web browsing, you'll probably want to keep the rest of the families included in the Microsoft Core Fonts for the Web:

• Andale Mono
• Comic Sans MS
• Georgia
• Impact
• Trebuchet MS
• Verdana
• Webdings

That covers Windows XP. Pretty soon, though, we'll be seeing a lot of the new fonts that come with Windows Vista and Office 2007. Of those, the most crucial font families are Segoe UI (the new default interface typeface in Windows Vista) and Calibri (the new default typeface in Word, Excel, and Outlook).

Edit: Well, looks like I was a little too slow. The article linked to by Gus Winterbottom covers the basics fairly nicely (though not 100% accurately).

Spire: that's tremendous. I've already begun to par down the list significantly. I have Segoe UI and the Vista fonts already (found them from early adapters.) and will keep them in the mix.

I'm down to 69 font files now. That's amazing.

Glad to help. Just remember to leave the .FON files alone (they're the ones that have an A icon). Strictly speaking, some of them can actually be safely removed, but their collective footprint is so small that it's not really worth the effort to sort through them.

Spire's list looks pretty good. The only other font that I'd add to the Vista/Office 12 list is Cambria, which I think is still default heading font in O12. Don't forget to backup your fonts to a spare folder before deleting them.

>That list contains fonts that I don’t even possess.

These would be the EA and complex script fonts added when you select the option in regional and language options.

Sii - I have two backups, the original and the minimized. I should have realized that most of the fonts in that list Jackie supplied were language/region based. I'm now firing on all pistons. It's nice to open up an application and not have an overwhelming font palette.

I really appreciate everyone's input.

Has anyone heard of Font Frenzy? It's a freeware that will remove and backup all non-essential fonts from a windows machine. I'm trying it out now. I'll let you know how it goes.