Strange Characters after WordPress Upgrade (Â)

Tip for long-time WordPress users…

If, after you’ve updated your WordPress installation and you suddenly notice a lot of strange characters (such as ‘Â’ etc.) scattered through your text, here’s a fix that might help.  At least, it helped for me.

On your website, find the file called wp-config.php and make a backup copy of it.  What I do is make a copy and name it wp-config.php.bak.

Bring wp-config.php up in a text editor and delete the line that reads:

define(‘DB_CHARSET’, ‘utf8′);

Save the file, put it back on your website, and view your pages.  With any luck at all, all those strange characters disappear from your posts.

If it doesn’t work, put your original copy back and start searching the WordPress help forums.

Good luck!