FONT, FONT SIZE WILL NOT CHANGE!

[QZQZQZ]

When I open a new Word document, a thick underline bar three characters long
appears at the beginning... As I type, it remains under the first three
characters of last line in the doument.

Underlining, italics, bold, color, etc., are still active, but I cannot
change the font or font size from my default (Comic Sans, 10 pt).

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

You are probably in Normal view with "Draft font" enabled (Tools | Options |
View). The bar is the end-of-document marker, which is always displayed in
Normal view. Try switching to Print Layout view.