Question about changing text size on an HP Mini.

[intheflow]

Hi, All!

My boss just won an HP Mini laptop. However, he is elderly and almost entirely computer illiterate. (Why oh why did he get this and not me? :cry:)

Anyway... the task of setting it up has fallen to me, lucky gal that I am. And I've got everything set up except I can't figure out how to change the text size on the desktop. As it is, it's pretty microscopic, and I'm sure my boss will not be able to read it. I've been able to change the text size for the windows themselves under Display Properties, but not the desktop text.

I'm almost positive it can't be done, but on the off-chance one of you whiz kids knows some backdoor DOS method to do this, I thought I'd at least ask here.

Thanks in advance for your help! :hi:

[PennDem]

1. Click on the desktop or in the window where you want to change

the text size. Hold down the "CTRL" key and scroll up with the scroll wheel on an attached mouse or using the scroll function on the touchpad to increase the text size, scroll down to make it smaller.

[intheflow]

2. Wow, thanks!

I've been using Windows for a couple decades at this point, but that's one trick I didn't know! I'll give it a try when I get back in the office on Thursday. Thanks! :hi:

[PennDem]

3. You're very welcome!

[intheflow]

7. Well, that didn't work.

However, noodling around with that notion gave me an HP Quick Launch pop-up and I was able to change the desktop font size. Still can't changethe text size on the menu bar, but that's probably not as important for my boss--as long as he can see the start button. :)

Thanks again for your help! :hi:

[intheflow]

9. OK, it's not working now!

:argh: :banghead:

I unplugged the mouse from my desktop, plugged it into the mini, and it made the font REALLY big. Then I unplugged the mouse, put it back on my desktop, and posted my success story to you. Then I looked at the mini again and thought, "Gosh, that font is really too big now. I'll just turn it down a notch." So I went back in Quick Launch, and using the mouse pad moved the slide bar down a notch. It made the font really small again. :grr: Moving the slide bar back up to the largest size again, however, only gave me a really small font again. So I unplugged the mouse, tried to do it again using an external mouse. No go. So I restored the defaults and restarted the damn thing. Tried the mouse again. It's still REALLY small. :cry:

My eyes and brain hurt trying to read the help box. Do you have any other suggestions up your sleeves?

[canetoad]

4. That may not work for text on the desktop

Two things to make it more readable:

1. Right click on desktop, select properties, appearance tab. You can enlarge the font size here

2. In properties/appearance again, click on effects and make sure Clear Type is selected.

[PennDem]

6. It works on desktop text of all of my XP & Vista PCs.

It should work on the mini too unless it is running a stripped down version of the OS.

[intheflow]

10. This doesn't work.

It just brings up the display property box I had already tried in my OP. :(

[Gore1FL]

5. That is quite a boobie prize he won

HP mini's suck ass.

you should be able to deal with this fro right clicking on the desktop.

[intheflow]

8. After playing around with this a little

I'd have to say you're 100% right. It's too small to type on comfortably, and the mouse pad is touchy and awkwardly set up. All I could see this as being good for is watching movies on airplanes, and even then it would be a pain in the ass because it doesn't read cds or dvds so you'd have to plug some other devise into the usb port. :eyes:

The prize he won was through a non-profit and I guess HP donated this turkey. They must not be selling very well.

[Gore1FL]

12. It would be handy if you needed to fry an egg and had no stove

Those things run pretty hot.

They use the same IRQ for network and the hard drive. That makes life a little difficult if you are trying to put an image on it. You actually have to load Windows PE to pull down a ghost image.

The processor is a single core VIA too. blech...

We had them available to order and someone did. I ended up having to load everything special for it because of the Ghost issue. By the time you add everything you need to make it usable, you could have bought an 8510p.

I wrote a rather humorous note to my boss about them, and they were quickly taken off the list of hardware we provide.

[Shardik]

11. If it is running Vista,

Right click on the desktop.

From the pop-up box, select PROPERTIES.

In the PROPERTIES box, on the left side under TASKS, select "ADJUST FONT SIZE (DPI)."

You will be asked for permission to continue, click yes.

In the resulting box, you can either click a radio button to up the desktop font size about 20% or you can select a button that will allow you to pick a "custom" font size.

Hope this helps.

[intheflow]

13. I'm confused because the sticker on the computer says it's running Vista, but

when I click on properties, it doesn't have a "tasks" option. It does have an appearance tab, and when I click on that it indicates it's running XP. :crazy: I'm really beginning to hate this machine.

Thanks for trying to help, anyway.

[PennDem]

14. Sounds like it came with a Vista license but it was

downgraded to run XP. That is fairly common.

So to change the font size in XP as canetoad mentioned earlier:

Right-click on your desktop and select properties.

Select the Appearance tab and near the bottom, change the "Font size" drop down window from "Normal" to either "Large" or "Extra Large" and then apply.