How Can I Magnify Things on My Computer

Answer

While there are many tools that will do this for a fee, the tools built into operating systems and browsers do a passable job for some people. We detail these tools below

Windows

• Magnifier
  • This tool will make essentially a small lens that will behave as a magnifying glass for anything on your screen. Depending on the version of Windows, the options are different. In Vista, only docked mode is available, which means that there is a small window that shows the contents of the lens with the appropriate zoom, while leaving the lens in normal mode. Windows 7 allows for a true magnifying glass mode called lens, as well as docked and fullscreen zoom. Shortcut is Windows Key and +

• Internet Explorer and Firefox
  • You can zoom in by using Ctrl and + or by View->Zoom

Macintosh OS X

• Zoom
  • Macintosh OS X has a Zoom feature built in to magnify the entire screen at once. It can be found in System Preferences > Universal Access.

• Safari
  • You can zoom in by using the Command key and + or View > Zoom

Other

Information about more tools that may be useful, such as portable magnifiers and large print keyboards as well as more full featured magnification software can be found at ATIC Magnification Tools