How to use Magnifier tool in Windows
In this resource, I would like to introduce a very useful tool that comes with Windows Operating System- Microsoft magnifier. This is a tool that proves to be very much useful for people with partial visual impairments. Introduced initially with Windows 95, this tool has improved as the latest versions of OS were released.
Magnifier in Windows
Once I visited my friends house on a weekend and was surprised to see my friend brother working on a computer.
Now you might think why was I surprised to see a person working on a computer. Was the child very small which surprised me. My answer would be NO.
What surprised me was the way in which he was watching the computer.Literally his nose was poking the monitor of the computer. He was looking in to the screen of the computer from a very closer distance.
You might also have come across many people who watch the monitor of a computer from such a closer distance. There is a reason behind this. Users with visual problems look into the computer in such a manner.
Now, when I asked my friend for the reason, I came to know that her brothers eyesight was very poor and even after switching to powerful glasses, he finds it difficult to read some contents that appear on the monitor screen. Hearing this I felt very sad, and did a lot of analysis on the problem. This was when I came to know that Windows provided an excellent inbuilt program that provides help for such people who have visual problems.
Windows magnifier magnifies the screen that is currently open. A new bar opens up at the top of the regular screen, in which the magnified screen can be seen. This bar opens up when we invoke the Magnifier program provided by Windows.
Below is the path to invoke magnifier.
1) Click on START
2) Click on All Programs
3) Click on Accessories
4) Click on Magnifier
This invokes the Magnifier that opens up the bar at the top of the screen. the part of the screen where the mouse is present is magnified in the opened bar.
This concept of magnifier was initially introduced with Windows 95.
A user has the option of magnifying the screen up to 9 times using this facility till Windows XP. A greater flexibility of magnifying the screen to 16 times its current size was provided from Windows Vista and later operating systems. There are other options available with magnifier like inverting the color of the screen.
On a whole, Windows magnifier proves to be a very useful tool for user with visual impairments.