When using the Software Update control panel to check for updated software, the list of updates returned doesn't appear to contain any text. See Figure 1.
Figure 1 Software Updates list with no visible text
Solution
The Software Update control panel uses the font and point size specified by the Appearance control panel to display list items. Using a large point size setting or an incompatible view font may cause this symptom. This is only a cosmetic issue; you can still use the Software Update control panel to download and install available updates.
You can change the font and point size used by the Software Update control panel by following these steps:
1. Open the Appearance control panel.
2. Click the Fonts tab.
3. Choose a font from the Views Font pop-up menu, and a point size from the adjacent Size pop-up menu. The default setting in Mac OS 9 is Geneva 10-point.
4. Close the Appearance control panel.
All applications that use the Appearance control panel settings, including the Software Update control panel, display the font and point size you specify.
Note: The update log available in Software Update control panel 1.2 may also contain text that is not visible because of font and size settings in the Appearance control panel. Follow the steps above to solve this issue.