How do I enable ClearType in Windows XP?

John Savill

April 5, 2001

1 Min Read
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A. XP, like Windows Me, supports ClearType. On LCD screens, ClearType offers a 300 percent higher than usual horizontal resolution, providing much clearer text than usual. To enable ClearType, perform the following steps.

  1. Right-click the desktop and select Properties.

  2. Click the Appearance tab.

  3. Click Effects.

  4. Under Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts, select ClearType.

  5. Click OK.

  6. Click OK on the main dialog box.

You can also edit the registry to enable ClearType.

  • Go to the HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktopFontSmoothing registry subkey, and set the value to 0 to disable font smoothing or 2 to enable font smoothing.

  • Go to the HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelDesktopFontSmoothingType registry subkey, and set the value to 0 for no smoothing, 1 for standard smoothing, or 2 for ClearType.

To enable font smoothing for the logon screen, go to the HKEY_USERS.DEFAULTControl PanelDesktop registry subkey, and use the same values as above.

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