Changing font size in Windows 2000 Pro? Help is on the way

by Jim Boyce | Apr 10, 2006 7:00:00 AM

Tags: Jim Boyce, font, font size, Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Windows, Windows 2000 Professional Tips Newsletter

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Takeaway: Having trouble reading the text in your Help file? Jim Boyce has a way to help you change the settings and stop squinting.

If you spend much time using the Help file for applications or for Windows 2000 itself and you use a relatively high screen resolution, the text in the Help files can be difficult to read. While most applications let you increase font size to overcome the problem, Help doesn't do so directly. This is because Help relies on Internet Explorer to render its text. In order to change the font size for the Help files, you need to change the font size of Internet Explorer.

In Internet Explorer, choose View | Text Size and choose the desired size. Next, choose Tools | Internet Options and click the Accessibility button. Select the option Ignore Font Sizes Specified On Web Pages and click OK, then close the Internet Explorer property sheet. If Help is currently open, close it and open it again to see the change.

In order to also change the font size used by Help for its menu and tabs, you must change a global Windows 2000 font setting. Right-click the desktop and choose Properties. Click the Settings tab and then click the Advanced button. On the General tab, select the desired font size from the Font Size drop-down list. Close the property sheet and restart the system to see the change take effect.