Industry guru Dave Taylor offers tech support on technical and business topics, including iPhone, iPod, Microsoft Windows, Sony PSP, cellphones, online advertising, CSS, Web design, business, Unix, Linux, SEO, Mac OS X, and shell script programming.     


How can I make the text in Windows bigger?

I don't know if I'm just getting old or what, but the text in my version of Microsoft Windows is tiny and I want to make it bigger. You know, the labels underneath icons, the text in dialog boxes, etc. I know there's a way to do that: how do I make the text in my Windows theme larger or bigger?


Dave's Answer:

You're probably not just getting older, don't worry. If you have a new computer, it's quite possible that you have it set to a higher screen resolution than your old computer, which lets you see more on the screen at once, a good thing, but also means that everything is smaller because if it's sized based on a specific number of pixels (screen dots) it also is going to take up less physical space on the screen for the same, say, 40 pixels of width.

One way you can fix things is to change your screen resolution, but if you have a screen that can display 1200 pixels across with great clarity, it'd be sub-optimal to tweak it so that you're running at 800x600 so that things were bigger because you'd just be losing out on the capabilities of your Windows PC display.

Instead there are indeed some easy settings you can get to in Windows 7, for example, that let you tweak the size of the text used in all the standard Windows display elements. This feature is also available in Windows XP and Windows Vista, and it's generally all found in the same place...

Go to Start --> Control Panels and look for the "Display" option:

win7 bigger screen text display 1

Once you're there, it couldn't be much easier to learn how to set the size of the type on your display screen:

win7 bigger screen text display 2

Under the helpful headline "Make it easier to read what's on your screen" you can choose "Smaller" (which is 100% or standard size), "Medium" (which is 125% normal) and "Larger" (which is 150% normal). Try the middle choice and see how it goes. If that doesn't help, go to Larger and see how things work out for you.


More Useful Windows PC Help Articles:
✔   What's the easiest way to speed up my Windows PC laptop?
My Dell Windows 7 laptop is starting to drive me crazy. It's so darn slow! I've had it a few years and I...
✔   Can I force a Windows 7 OS system update?
Every so often Windows 7 pops up a window and tells me that there are updates. That's nice, but how can I force...
✔   Fix Google Drive (Gdrive) no longer supported (out of date)?
I'm a big Google fan and have been using Google Drive for quite a while as a cloud storage device. It's a breeze,...
✔   How do I open or unpack a RAR archive on my Windows PC?
I have some ".rar" files on my Windows 8 PC and am curious how to unpack them to see what's inside. From a...
✔   How can I shrink my Windows 8 Desktop file icons?
I've figured out most things in the new Windows 8 interface, except I can't see how to easily reduce or shrink the file...

Let's stay in touch!
Sign up for my weekly AskDaveTaylor Newsletter and you'll receive even more tech and gadget help right to your inbox, along with exclusive news and industry updates. It's good stuff. I promise!
    Enter your name: and your email addr:  




Categorized: Windows PC Help   (Article 9943, Written by )
Tagged: customization, larger text size, personalization, text size, win7, windows 7
Previous: Stop Windows importing my iPhone photos?
Next: 26 Great Tips on Promoting Your Local Business




Reader Comments To Date:

Starbucks coffee cup I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!
Rather amazingly, there are no comments on this article yet.

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!











I will never send you any unsolicited email. Ever.






Check This Out Too...

 
Look for Answers
Need Help? Ask Dave Taylor!


Follow Me on Pinterest

Find Me on Google+
ADT on G+
© 2002 - 2013 by Dave Taylor. All Rights Reserved.

Note: This web site is for the purpose of disseminating information for educational purposes, free of charge, for the benefit of all visitors. We take great care to provide quality information. However, we do not guarantee, and accept no legal liability whatsoever arising from or connected to, the accuracy, reliability, currency or completeness of any material contained on this web site or on any linked site. Further, please note that by submitting a question or comment you're agreeing to my terms of service, which are: you relinquish any subsequent rights of ownership to your material by submitting it on this site. My lawyer says "Thanks".
"Ask Dave Taylor®" is a registered trademark of Intuitive Systems, LLC.