I want to magnify my screen

Magnification software in Windows 7

Ease of Access Center has replaced Accessibility Options in the ‘ Control Panel ’.

Open ‘ Ease of Access Center ‘ press ‘ Windows ’ logo key + ‘U ’ or click Start button ‘ Control Panel ’ + ‘ Ease of Access ’ + ‘ Ease of Access Center ’.

Under Quick Access to common tools press ‘ Alt ’ + ‘ G ’ or click to select ‘ Start Magnifier ’ as shown in Fig 1.

Fig 1

To start Magnifier at login, under ‘ Explore all settings ’, click on or ‘ Tab ’ to ‘ Make computer easier to see ’ then press ‘ Enter ’.

Under ‘ Make things on the screen larger ’, click to select or press ‘ Alt ’ + ‘ N ’ to ‘ Turn on Magnifier ’ as in Fig 2, select ‘ Save ’ or press ‘ Alt ’ + ‘ S ’.

Fig 2

If you decide not to set the Magnifier to start with Windows, a quick shortcut to start it is to press the ‘ Windows ’ key + ‘ + ’ (plus) or ‘ – ’ (minus) keys.

Windows 7 features two forms of Magnification, Full Screen Magnification and Magnifying Lens.

Full Screen Magnification Mode

When the Magnifier starts, you will notice a magnifying glass icon appears on screen, see Fig 3.

Fig 3

Clicking on this gives access to the magnifier options dialog, see Fig 4.

Fig 4

Clicking on the ‘ Minus ’ button reduces the level of magnification or press the ‘ Windows ’ key + ‘ – ’ (minus). Click the ‘ Plus ’ button to increase the magnification or press ‘ Windows ’ key + ‘ + ’ (plus).

To select ‘ Full Screen ’, click on ‘ Views ’ to open the menu, see Fig 5. Select ‘ Full Screen ’ or press ‘ Ctrl ’ + ‘ Alt ’ + ‘ F ’.

Fig 5

The options button is the one to the right of ‘ Views ’ and clicking on this opens the dialog in Fig 6.

Fig 6

Clicking and ticking the various options will turn on the specific feature or press:

‘ Alt ’ + ‘ I ’ - Turn on colour inversion

‘ Alt ’ + ‘ M ’ - Follow the mouse pointer

‘ Alt ’ + ‘ K ’ - Follow the keyboard focus

‘ Alt ’ + ‘ T ’ - Have magnifier follow the insertion point

Fig 7 gives an impression of how the screen appears in ‘ Full Screen ’ mode.

Fig 7

Lens Mode

To change to Lens, click the ‘ Lens ’ option in the ‘ Views ’ menu or press ‘ Ctrl ’ + ‘ Alt ’ + ‘ L ’, see Fig 8.

Fig 8

The options in Lens mode are slightly different, in that the size of the lens can be altered.

In the ‘ Magnifier Lens Size ’ box, click and drag the size bars to make the adjustments or press ‘ Tab ’ until the relevant adjustment slider is highlighted, use either the up or down arrow keys for the height and the left or right arrows for the width adjustments, see Fig 9.

Fig 9

Note: If this does not work it could be because your computer settings cannot be changed due to local IT policies - contact your local IT support for further help.