what does the upside down question mark mean???

Where do you see it?

Debugging?

Email?

Importing an image?

Converting a PDF?

...?

Sounds like a corrupted font or munged Unicode interaction...

Could you send a screen shot showing where this is appearing (tom at bluesky dot org)?

Thanks for the screen shot. It looks like you are perhaps trying to open a .plist file with the wrong app. Try using Property List Editor.