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.
