Screen Changes

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Every now and then, I participate in a web based meeting using http://www.livemeeting.com[/url%5D. When I do, my screen changes its appearance. I really like how it looks when I am using it so I am disappointed when it goes back to normal. Does anyone have any idea what is happening to make it look so good?

The picture shows how it looks when I am viewing a meeting (left) and how it looks normally (right) – I don’t think the screenshot is doing the change justice. It affects everything, not just the window holding the meeting.

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Sorry, but I don’t see the difference in the two screenshots. Can you tell me what I’m missing?

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look at the ‘wopr’ part on the address line. The left one is (to me) sharper. It appears to get a shadow, or just stands out better.

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FWIW, I noticed the difference right away. I’m on a Dell UltraSharp 17″ LCD with Clear Type turned on, and the address text on the left looked thicker, darker and sharper.

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Looks the same to me too?

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Sorry Tim – I can see absolutely no difference between the two.

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Do you have a flat screen (LCD) monitor? If so, activate the Display Properties control panel.
Activate the Appearance tab and click Effects…
Tick “Use the following effect to smooth edges of screen fonts” and select ClearType from the dropdown list.
Click OK.

You can download Microsoft’s free ClearType Tuner from Microsoft PowerToys for Windows XP for fine tuning.

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Bingo – we have a winner. Thx Hans – [veryverybigbowlorbagofwhateveryouwantheadingyourway]

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I’ve updated my display as per Han’s instructions and also run the little utility that adjusts it. I thought that I would post a screen shot so that more people cannot tell the difference. One change that I had to make was to reselect my lounge background – the old one didn’t look so good with the improved fonts.

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I don’t know about the others, Tim, but maybe the reason I didn’t see any difference in your two shots is that I already have Clear Type turned on. I don’t know, but one thing’s for sure – if it looks better to YOU, that’s what counts. Glad you like the result.

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the one on the right looked better to me, but im on a flat CRT. interesting.

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ClearType is meant especially for LCD monitors, but it’s also a matter of taste. Jefferson Scher, for example, dislikes the effect, while I wouldn’t want to use an LCD monitor without it.

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