Garbled Characters After a Fresh Install or Upgrade

Garbled text is usually caused by FTP not being in binary upload mode when uploading PHP files. The solution is to re-upload the files once in binary mode.

Binary mode settings for several common FTP clients:

1. FlashFXP:
Open FlashFXP: in the toolbar, choose Options => Parameters (you can also press F6). In the window that appears, select the "Transfer" tab and choose "Binary" as the transfer mode.

2. LeapFTP:
Open LeapFTP: choose Parameters from the Options menu, select (ASCII extensions), and after the list appears, select "*.PHP", click (Delete) on the right, then click (OK). If the "*.PHP" entry does not exist, you can use the client as is without further settings.

3. CuteFTP:
Open CuteFTP: press ALT+F7 to enter Global Options, then Transfer => Transfer type => 

Binary
4. filezilla
Open filezilla: in the toolbar, choose Transfer => Transfer type => select "Binary"

Note: binary means binary, not ASCII!!