Sol.(1): Modify wp-config.php
1️⃣ Open your wp-config.php file (found in your WordPress root directory).
2️⃣ Look for these lines:
define(‘DB_CHARSET’, ‘utf8’);
define(‘DB_COLLATE’, ”);
3️⃣ Comment them out by adding // in front of them:
// define(‘DB_CHARSET’, ‘utf8’);
// define(‘DB_COLLATE’, ”);
4️⃣ Save the file and check if the issue is resolved.
Sol. (2): Fix Database Collation via phpMyAdmin
1️⃣ Log in to phpMyAdmin (via your hosting control panel).
2️⃣ Select your WordPress database.
3️⃣ Click on the Operations tab.
4️⃣ Under Collation, choose:
utf8_general_ci (for older versions)
utf8mb4_unicode_ci (for newer versions)
5️⃣ Click Go to apply changes.
Sol. (3): Convert Post Content to Proper Encoding
If your database encoding is already correct, but posts still show strange characters, you can manually fix them:
1️⃣ Install the Better Search Replace plugin.
2️⃣ Go to Tools → Better Search Replace.
3️⃣ Search for ’ and replace it with ’ (correct apostrophe).
4️⃣ Repeat for  and other symbols.
5️⃣ Run the replacement and check your site.
Sol. (4): Disable Problematic Plugins or Themes
🔹 Switch to the default WordPress theme (like Twenty Twenty-Four).
🔹 Deactivate all plugins, then reactivate them one by one to find the culprit.
🚀 Final:
If the issue persists, your best option is to restore a database backup from before the WordPress update.