I admit it: my eyes are getting old. And more and more these days I find myself suffering from eyestrain after spending hours in front of the computer.
Then it dawned on me: I’m using a big monitor (a 22-inch LCD), but Windows is still showing me relatively tiny fonts, icons, etc.
As regular Hassle-Free PC readers know, it’s a simple matter to increase the font size in, say, your browser: you just hold down the Ctrl key and tap + (or turn your mouse wheel).
But what about making everything bigger throughout Windows? The icons, the toolbars, the text in pull-down menus–everything? Turns out Windows 7 is easily enlarged:
1. Open the Control Panel, then click Appearance and Personalization.
2. Under the Display section, click Make text and other items larger or smaller.
3. As you’ll see, the default is Smaller. Choose one of the other two settings–Medium or Larger–and then click Apply. (Be sure to save any other work first, as you’ll have to log out of Windows and back in again for the changes to take effect.)
Presto! Now Windows is a lot easier on the eyes (and I mean that in the literal sense). It may take a little while to get used to the bigger fonts and whatnot (I had to readjust some of the viewing panes in Outlook), but ultimately this is a great solution for anyone suffering from computer-generated eyestrain.
I know my eyes are happier.