ClearType Tuner for Windows XP

Do you have a LCD screen with Windows XP and all the fonts look terrible on the system even when you visit websites?

there is a quick and easy fix, to sort it all out. Microsoft have a nifty little program called "ClearType Tuner" that will allow your XP to render all your fonts in a much better way, right across your operating system and yes even in Firebox. Microsoft claim it also helps on CTR screens but some say there's not so much of a difference. If you have gritty fonts then give it a whirl and see what happens as you can always turn it off in your control panel -  when I tried this it made a huge difference to me. If you want to test out Cleartype tuner follow the instructions below.

Getting ClearType Tuner installed on to Windows XP

ClearType Tuner is a PowerToy for XP, so first you will have to download it and install it, quite quick and easy.

Please follow the link below to the Microsoft PowerToys download page and click the ClearType Tuner PowerToy link on the right hand side of the page.

Configure and run the ClearType Tuner Wizard

When you have downloaded the PowerToy setup.exe (executable file), you will need to install it in to your XP system by running the setup.exe file (usually a double click on the file).

After the setup programme has installed the correct files the ClearType Tuner window will pop up.

click the turn on ClearType Tuner checkbox and then the Start Wizard button, this will start the ClearType setting wizard which if fairly straightforward to configure, all you have to do is select the sentences that are the easiest to read, after two clicks you should be finished

Below are the advanced tab settings in the wizard which are worth testing.

Online tuning the ClearType Tuner PowerToy

if your ClearType Tuner icon goes missing from your control panel there are two things you can do

• Get the ClearType Tuner page online and run the wizard from your browser
• or download and install the power toy again