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Update: Make Text On Your Screen Appear Clearer

BY STANLEY ZAROWIN

Please note: This item is from our archives and was published in 2005. It is provided for historical reference. The content may be out of date and links may no longer function.

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A few years ago Microsoft quietly introduced—but never promoted—a Windows utility designed to make the text on a computer screen appear clearer ( Technology Q&A , JofA , Oct.03, page 88). What Microsoft didn’t say was that the utility, ClearType, was really designed for liquid crystal displays (LCDs)—those newly popular flat screens. While the utility worked on conventional CRT (cathode ray tube) screens, the improvement was marginal. Now that more users have adopted flat screens, Microsoft has improved the utility and renamed it ClearType Tuner Powertoy.

To download it, go to www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/downloads/powertoys/xppowertoys.mspx .

Once loaded, it will appear as an icon (see screenshot below) in the Control Panel . To bring up the Control Panel , click on Start, Settings, Control Panel .

When you click on the icon to launch it, a wizard steps you through the setup, giving you a choice of several samples of type (see screenshot below); picking the clearest triggers an automatic fine-tuning of your screen display. The one on the left is slightly clearer.