You Oughta Be Using ClearType
I was backing up my neighbor's PC yesterday (it's something I do for only the brightest and nicest of them, and I noticed that fonts on Harry's notebook were blurry.
It was clear he hadn't tweaked his spanking brand new copy of Vista and turned on Cleartype.
See Better with ClearType
If you have a LCD monitor or a notebook, you can see a dramatic difference when looking at your on-screen fonts. They'll be razor-sharp and clearer than ever before. The only thing you need to do is change the ClearType setting.
ClearType is built into XP and Vista and the best way to play with it is using Microsoft's online wizard. It'll take you a few minutes to change the settings so the fonts look just right.
If you're using XP, a better way is to use the ClearType Tuner PowerToy.
My choice, though, is Iolsland's ClearTweak, a cool, free utility
that lets you fine-tune ClearType, or turn it on or off in a jiffy:
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In Linux it's called subpixel smoothing. Turn it on like this:
System - Preferences - Appearance - Fonts
In that window, check "Subpixel smoothing (LCDs)".
Greetz, Pjotr.
I couldn't disagree more. ClearType is excellent for CRT's but using it, or any "font smoothing" setting, on an LCD screen simply makes the text blurrier and grey.
I'm routinely turning these settings off for my LCD using customers and they always see a dramatic improvement.
Well, guerosaenz, that's why we have ClearTweak. You can tune it for best results on the type of screen you're using, which always improves over Clear Type being simply on or off. Learn to use it. Your customers will appreciate you even more.
I'm not sure what you are seeing, danvm, but on my machines ClearType (and ClearTweak) works best for LCDs. Sometimes it makes little or no discernable difference at all, but some LCDs are worse than others and ClearType clears up the blurriness nicely. CRTs are usually OK out of the box but I have seen slight improvements with ClearType at times. Many laptop makers turn ClearType on by default for the LCD improvement... they don't do it to annoy!
I knew about the subpixel smoothing in Linux, but thanks for the mention for those who weren't aware.