I'm having a problem in Word that is extremely frustrating. I suspect it has
been introduced in Windows XP (my current version -- ugh), because in
previous versions of Windows I never had this problem. In the past, when I
typed bulleted lists and indented for a new level, the bullet appearance
would change and both bullet and text would indent slightly. If I wanted to
back it up a little to the left, I could do that with "decrease indent." End
of story.

Now, I'm getting all sorts of bizarre inconsistencies with styles, indents,
even bullet sizes. When I tabbed, the bullet didn't indent (I did see a
response to someone else's plea about this, on this board, and followed the
suggestion to make it work -- but I don't see why this isn't the default).
Sometimes when I indent I get a full 3/4 of an inch indent, and "decrease
indent" doesn't fix it -- just shoves the whole line back to the left margin
as though it's at the same level as the line above it. Sometimes I get
totally random bullet styles; this time an empty circle, that time a black
box (and I don't mean that I get them consistently, the way I used to: level
1 black circle, level 2 empty circle, level 3 black box; I mean, sometimes
level 1 is a black box, sometimes level 2 is a black circle, etc.). And the
sizes change, too. Frankly, I do not have the time -- or the patience -- to
go back and change the style for each line.

What is the simplest, fastest way for me to restore my old standard to all
of my bulleted lists? Thank you.