I wasn’t looking for it, but I found ClearType fonts on Windows XP, and I’m glad I did.

I had purchased a new laptop a few months back and I was tweaking the fonts and sizes to get it right on a screen that was bigger than my old laptop, and that’s when I came across the ClearType font option in XP. So I checked it and viola, my screen fonts suddenly looked that much better, smoother and even clearer.

There was still a little adjusting I needed to do and some getting use to the new look font, but after a month or so there’s simply no going back.

Incredibly, though, I would imagine most PC users don’t even know this font type option is available in the OS, nor is it the default (at least it wasn’t on any of my machines).

To access it on XP (sorry, I don’t run Vista but I’d imagine you could access the option by a similar method), right click the mouse button anywhere on your desktop. Then click “properties”->“appearance”->”effects” then check the box by “Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts:” and select “ClearType” from the pull-down menu. And that’s it!

(On XP, you can also click the Start button -> “Control Panel” -> “Display” to reach the “Display Properties” popup window.)

I will say it does take some getting used to, but after a week or so try going back to “Standard” and see how much of a different is looks.

You do need a high quality monitor - one that displays at least 256 colors to get the full benefit - otherwise you may experience some blurriness. But it’s worth a look.