Microsoft ClearType

I had mixed feelings about ClearType on XP - it seemed to be an addon that didn't achieve much. In Vista I didn't realise until recently that it is a default part of the OS and actually without it stuff looks weird. The system fonts seem to go bold, but making them bold/unbold doesn't make much difference.

In fact this change is the source of a number of forum posts akin to 'my fonts have gone bold, help!'. I myself spent a long time searching for a solution to this 'problem' - last time it occurred I ended up re creating my user account from scratch! I'm not sure why or how but this time it occurred to me to look up ClearType - I guess I saw it on one of the forums that discusses the issue.

I still have no idea what actually causes the change to happen but here's how to undo it:

1. Open the control panel set called Personalization (right click on the desktop > Personalization)
2. Click 'Window Color and Appearance' then 'Open classic appearance properties for more color options' which is at the bottom
3. In the new dialogue box click 'Effects'
4. In the next new dialogue box tick 'Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts' and set the drop-down to be 'ClearType'
5. Click OK on both dialogue boxes to close them, applying the changes