How do I turn my Windows into a magnifying glass?

February 1, 2006 7:24 AM

Is there a way to magnify the screen on a Windows PC like there is on a Mac (command+option+8)?

I want to be able to smoothly zoom in and out of the entire screen on a Windows PC. The Microsoft Magnifier (under Accessibility options) is not sufficient. I don't mean increasing the resolution either. Thanks.

posted by squink to computers & internet (12 comments total)

Seems like a few of the 31 free/shareware magnifiers or 10 professional versions for Windows listed here should do what you want, how you want it.
posted by mdevore at 8:02 AM on February 1, 2006

Sorry, I meant natively to Windows. Is there anything in the operating system that does this?
posted by squink at 8:05 AM on February 1, 2006

It's not quite so "clean" as command-option-8, but if you do Start->Run->Magnify that will bring up the built in magnifier, I'm unaware of a keyboard shortcut for it though.
posted by KirTakat at 8:08 AM on February 1, 2006

Start menu/Programs/Accessories/Accessibility/ Magnifier
posted by JJ86 at 8:09 AM on February 1, 2006

Sorry, didn't see that you tried that. I don't know why you consider it insufficient?
posted by JJ86 at 8:11 AM on February 1, 2006

Native? Nope, or at least I've never heard of it in the past X number of years, where X is a too-large integer. That's why the Microsoft accessibility magnifer (and what a piece of crap that is) is bundled in. Otherwise you wouldn't be seeing so many third-party magnifiers. I do vaguely remember some display or mouse drivers having support for some level of screen magnification, so if you have that particular driver, if would be the same as built-in operating system support, right? Unless you need support for multiple machine environments, then you're back to external programs or the Microsoft accessibility magnifier utility.

There are hardware monitor magnifiers, too, but doesn't sound like what you're want.
posted by mdevore at 8:17 AM on February 1, 2006

The Mac interface, as far as I know, is in Display Postscript, so zooming in and out is trivial. You wouldn't be able to do anything like that under XP, because its display is purely bitmapped. You can magnify the pixels under XP with the right program, but you can't just easily scale the whole screen up. Doesn't work that way.

Vista will likely be able to do this, but of course that doesn't help you now.
posted by Malor at 9:27 AM on February 1, 2006

To mimic JJ86, sorry, didn't notice that you had already nixed that. That is the only magnifier built into XP, what exactly do you need it for?
posted by KirTakat at 11:12 AM on February 1, 2006

It may not be as fancy as a Mac, but I regularly use Zoom+ on my Windows box. It's like the built-in magnifier only it works really really well. Free.
posted by Nelson at 11:16 AM on February 1, 2006

The Mac interface is driven by Open GLl not display postscript (that'd be the NeXT OS).

What Squink is asking for (that grumblee asked for as I recall in a previous Ask.Me) is a dynamic zoom in/out for windows.

MacOSX does this natively really, really well - it's ideal for vision impairments...but also great to use when teaching some small interface widget part of the screen.

I've used Zoom+ and window's magnifier...

but I haven't found anything as nice or a dynamic as this feature. I think part of it is that on a windows box, you can't guarenteed an Open GL card (although, I'd be fine without the coolness of it)...and part of it is that many of the 31 free/shareware versions just don't get we just want to zoom. I looked at about 5-10 of them...and was frustrated.
posted by filmgeek at 12:33 PM on February 1, 2006

Microsoft's newer Intellimouse drivers have this function. It's basically like the one built into Windows, but is fixed to the mouse cursor, and allows you to change the size and zoom level on the fly.

It's reasonably useful; I've got mine mapped to the middle mouse button (which is unfortunately cumbersome on some of the MS mice).
posted by chimmyc at 12:36 PM on February 1, 2006

also great to use when teaching some small interface widget part of the screen

That's my goal, demonstrating some web widgets. Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try out some of the third party apps. Just wish they were as smooth as on my Mac.
posted by squink at 4:19 PM on February 1, 2006