Do you have a hard time reading the text on your computer? You are not alone! As we get older...or blast our faces with three monitors...*cough cough* our ability to read text on our screens diminishes. Want to know something that doesn't help? Your new monitor! How can that be? It has to do with resolution. Your new monitor likely has a larger screen and a higher resolution that what you were using on your CRT monitor. What that means is that while you can fit more on the screen, the text will be smaller! Is there anything you can do to make your life easier? Of course! Let's Geek out, shall we?

Steps for Windows Vista

Go ahead and right-click on your desktop and click on Personalize. You can also do this in the Control Panel-->Appearance and Personalization-->Personalization.

 

 

 

 

In the Personalization window, along the left hand task pane you will see something called Adjust Font Size (DPI). Go ahead and click on this. You can click on ok on the User Account Control dialog box.

You will now see the DPI Scaling window. You can choose the default of 96 DPI, but that wouldn't do you much good would it? You want to go bigger...cause its better! Try the larger 120 DPI setting and try it out. If you want to go larger, follow the above steps again, but this time choose the Custom DPI box in the lower right corner.

In this dialog box you can choose what size you want. Keep in mind however that the larger you go, the more likely it is to make menu's and selection boxes appear wonky. Text can also look funky if you are running Aero, so if you find that to be the case, then select the Use Windows XP style DPI scaling check box.

Go ahead and restart your computer for the changes to take effect.

Steps for Windows XP

1. Go into your Control Panel by first clicking on the Start Button.
2. Then click on the Control Panel icon located in the right column of the Start Menu.
3. If your Start Menu is set to the Classic View, then begin by clicking on the Start Button.
4. Then click on Settings, then click on the Control Panel icon to open up the Control Panel.
5. Now, Double click on the Display icon to open up the Display Properties Window.
6. Then click on the Appearance tab at the top of the screen.
7. At the bottom left side of the screen you will see an area to change the Font Size:
8. Use your mouse to switch between normal, large and extra large according to your preference.
9. Then click on the OK button to save your changes and exit Display Properties window.
10. Windows XP will immediately adjust to your new Font Size without restarting your system.
11. Then close the Control Panel to return back to your Windows Session.

For Windows 98 and Windows ME

1. Go into your Control Panel by first clicking on the Start Button.
2. Then click on Settings and then click on the Control Panel icon.
3. Double click on the Display icon to open up the Display Properties window.
4. Then click on the Settings tab at the top of the screen.
5. Then click on the Advanced button at the bottom of the screen.
6. In the Display section of the screen you will see an area to change the Font Size:
7. Use your mouse to switch between Small, Large and Other according to your preference.
8. Then click on the OK button to save your changes and then close the Display Properties window.
9. Windows will inform you that you must restart your computer for the changes to take effect.
10. Click on the Yes button to allow Windows to restart your computer.