http://bugs.winehq.org/show_bug.cgi?id=10029
--- Comment #2 from Stuart Middleton Stuart@houseofanime.org 2008-04-16 10:39:10 --- Yes, but I do have more to add (only just discovered this).
There is a difference in behaviour depending on whether I run winecfg or not. Note that the user manual in the Wiki currently suggests that winecfg should be run as part of the setup process, but a query on the user forum / mailing list indicated that winecfg is not required / should not be run.
Anyway,
If you run winecfg as described in step 1), you get the bahaviour as described (i.e. the tahoma entry in the registry vanishes when you run the app and you have to re-enter it manually using winetricks and regedit). However, if you omit running winecfg, the application runs fine without the tahoma-based errors and there is no funny business with a disappearing tahoma registry value.
Basically, it looks as though there's something funny going on when you use winecfg to trigger the .wine directory creation. It seems to somehow create a tahoma registry entry that does not persist as it should.
Hope that helps.