A Win 10 Text Readability Issue

[GrahamKnott]

Hi

Despite all reasonable attempts to increase the font size in the menus of Win 10’s Window Explorer, as far as it applies to the eyes Mother Nature bequeathed to me, the pre-existing font size remains so pettifoggingly weeny as to be almost described as mitochondrical. A follow-on question is why does it have to be this way? I don’t suppose there’s a solution out there that can resolve this long-running issue, but if there is I’d be hugely grateful if someone can point me in the right direction. Thanks a lot.

[Bastet]

I take it you’ve changed the font size under ease of access but the font size is still too small?
Settings>Ease of access>display> move the slider to increase the font size.
If that doesn’t work then hold down the Ctrl key & use the mouse scroll button to increase the size.

[Rustys]

Click Start
Then Slect Settings
Now select Ease of Access
On the left side select Display
Move the Slider Bar under Make test Bigger
Click Apply

See if that helps

There are also various other setting in there that you can miniplate to see if that helps

[Rustys]

Do you need any further assistance?

[Rustys]

they still do nothing for the text in Win Explorer,

That is interesting I tested this on a separate user on the system and had no issues like that.

don’t I hate and loathe that ribbon in Word 2007

nothing there that is not and or cannot be found in any other menu plus have to agree was one of the worst things they did.

Long Live Clippy

Have you thought about using the Magnifier in Ease of Access?

[GrahamKnott]

Like I’ve already stated, I’ve gone to Ease of Access, increased the font size by using the slider. . . and while everything fontlike increases elsewhere, the fonts in Win Explorer don’t budge by a nanometer. I give up

[Rustys]

Those are the only ways to increase font size that I know of from within Windows 10 and every one of them have worked correctly on this end.

Have you tried creating a different user on the system and logging in there to see if the issue replicates?

Unless anyone else has any further suggestions.

[GrahamKnott]

I’m due next Monday to have my local PC repairers swap my laptop’s hard drive for a SSD (in part to ease the installation of MS updates - another chronic headache). Hopefully then the repairers will resolve this font issue once and for all. I’ll provide feedback on that one.

PS. Nowadays my disenchantment with MS is such that I’m becoming interested in switching to Linux over the long-term, although I understand installing this OS isn’t for the faint-hearted.

[Rustys]

It is like installing any other operating system.

If you are looking for simple and ease of use, there is Linux Mint, yet you will be running into the same issues and there will be a learning curve.

The nice thing is that you can use most Linux distros directly off the USB drive without installing it to test run it. The only issue there is that any changes you make are reset when you shut down and restart the system. Plus, it is kind of slow since it is running off of a USB and not installed.

https://linuxmint.com/

https://linuxmint.com/faq.php

[GrahamKnott]

The limitations you suggest about Linux Mint - ref “same issues”, which I take to mean undersized fonts where it matters - makes for depressing reading. It’s almost as if there’s a kind of unconscious descrimination taking place by software developers, many of whom, I guess, have yet to enter their thirties; that’s to say they’re still blessed with 20/20 vision, a level of optical acuity which for a sizeable chunk among the older generations is nowadays a distant memory.

The one silver lining this end is that the fonts on my standalone desktop, with 2003 Office Pro (and not much else) sitting on top of Win 8.1 Pro, is pretty much fully scalable across the board. Win 8.1 isn’t brilliant, of course. But in terms of personalisation, limited though it is compared to its forebears it’s still a world away from the many restrictive practices and no-go areas that festoon my laptop’s edition of Win 10, that’s for sure. Excuse the extended bleat.

[Bruce]

sadly Graham, moving to new technologies like Office and Windows, always makes us reminisce the good 'ol days and dread the new learning curve.

we generally hate change.

it took me ages to get used to the Office ribbon first introduce by Office 2007. All I can say is you get used to it and can make it only take up one line by double clicking on any of the menu headers.

the suggestion in Post #2 works in Windows 11, I just tried it and everything went big and chunky, File Explorer included.

[GrahamKnott]

On reflection I wonder if these font scalability issues may be due to having Windows 10 Home edition installed on my laptop, as opposed to Professional. If my memory is to be trusted, the last time I had MS home edition of anything (if it was even called that?) was back in the days of Win 2000, and I seem to recall it too being rather basic.

As much as I dislike the ribbon, I’m able to use it these days more or less intuitively. . . well, sort of. My dislike of it, based on how it performs on my laptop, is due to its clunkiness and many configuration issues; but there again the cause of that may stem - at least in part - from the OS being a home edition. I simply don’t know, having never knowingly used Win 10 Pro in the past. So I’ll say no more.

I appreciate your commiserations, Bruce. Thanks also to Bastet and Rustys.

Gray

[Bruce]

no worries.
I’ll close this thread now as it seems to have come to a logical conclusion. (y)