Free font tools

Windows 95 font smoother

Font smoothing is one of several system enhancements originally included in the Plus! pack for Windows 95. Now you can make full use of the benefits of this technology, making text easier to read and more pleasant to look at, without having to purchase the Plus! Pack.

Font smoothing works by adding intermediate colored pixels to the corners, curves and diagonals of characters in order to make them appear smoother and less jagged than they would otherwise.

Font smoother download

Click on a location below to download the Windows 95 font smoother.

• Warning! - The Windows 95 font smoother should ONLY be installed and uninstalled on computers running Windows 95.
• download - Windows 95 font smoother
  location - http://download.microsoft.com
  file details - w95gray.exe - 170Kb - 23 July 1997
• requirements - This utility will only work on Windows 95 computers capable of, and set to, 16bit (HiColor) color display modes or higher.
• note - This is a US English only utility, and that although it will work correctly on other language versions of Windows 95, the help file and installation text will be in English.

When you run the file a Plus! tab will be added to your Display Properties window. Font smoothing is switched on and off from this window.

Figure 1. The screen properties Plus! tab (modified).

Turning font smoothing on and off

To turn font smoothing on and off, right-click on the desktop background, select 'Properties' from the menu, then click the Plus! tab. Check the 'Smooth edges of screen fonts' box to turn font smoothing on.

Other operating systems

Microsoft Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows NT 4, Windows 2000 and Windows XP have font smoothing built-in.

• Windows 9x, Windows 2000 and Windows XP - Font smoothing can be activated via the 'Effects' tab on the 'Display Properties' control panel.

  Warning! Uninstalling the smoother from Windows 98 systems will result in Windows 98's own smoothing components being permanently deleted. Running setup from the original Windows 98 upgrade CD should replace the deleted components. For this reason we recommend that Windows 95 users uninstall the smoother before upgrading to Windows 98.

• Windows NT 4 - Font smoothing is activated via the 'Plus' tab on the 'Display Properties' control panel.

Problems?

To report problems please contact us. Common questions and answers are posted in our Font Smoother FAQ.

More information

For more information about the smooth fonts feature, and how it works, see the following material: Smooth fonts in Windows 95 (from our About Fonts section), TrueType in Windows 95 (from our Developing Fonts section), and our Anti-aliasing / font smoothing list of links.

this page was last updated 30 January 2003.

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