How can I make the text on the start screen bigger?

[Dmahoney1170]

Hi Everyone,

I bought my parents a Surface2 for Christmas and just found out that they haven't been using it because the font on the start screen and in apps is too hard to see- I agree- it's pretty darn small.

Anyway, I have a high end Lenovo touchscreen with Win8.1 and have been searching without success on how to make the font bigger. If I go to the display properties for the Modern UI, it has a "More Options" section where it looks like this capability is supposed to be: "change the size of apps, text, and other items on the screen (only applies to displays that can support it)". For me, it is set to the default and there is no way to change it- my monitor is set to 1600x900. I talked my Mom through this and, If I remember correctly, she was only able to reduce the size of text.

anyone know of a solution? am I looking in the right place?

 

[surfdock]

DMahoney1170, One option is to use the built-in magnifier tool.

PC Settings - Ease of Access - Magnifier
Or if using keyboard, hit winkey + plus to zoom in and winkey+ minus to zoom out.


This post may help as well:
DPI Scaling Size - Change for Displays in Windows 8.1

 

[jrioux]

Do not use Magnifier. It totally sucks and is also difficult to turn off. I have a Surface RT and Magnifier has been very frustrating.

When you deselect (uncheck) Magnifier in the Control Panel and then select OK, it only turn if off for the current session on the computer. The next time I turned the computer on, Magnifier was back on. I finally got rid of it by selecting Apply in the Control Panel before selecting OK.

 

[surfdock]

Do not use Magnifier. It totally sucks and is also difficult to turn off. I have a Surface RT and Magnifier has been very frustrating.

When you deselect (uncheck) Magnifier in the Control Panel and then select OK, it only turn if off for the current session on the computer. The next time I turned the computer on, Magnifier was back on. I finally got rid of it by selecting Apply in the Control Panel before selecting OK.

Yeah I know its not the easiest tool to use. But its better if you use the keyboard shortcuts:
Keyboard shortcuts - Microsoft Windows Help


Press this key / To do this
Windows logo key Windows logo key+plus (+) or minus (-) / Zoom in or out
Ctrl+Alt+Spacebar / Preview the desktop in full-screen mode
Ctrl+Alt+D / Switch to docked mode
Ctrl+Alt+F / Switch to full-screen mode
Ctrl+Alt+I / Invert colors
Ctrl+Alt+L / Switch to lens mode
Ctrl+Alt+R / Resize the lens
Ctrl+Alt+arrow keys / Pan in the direction of the arrow keys
Windows logo key Windows logo key+Esc / Exit Magnifier