Microsoft KB Archive/68397

Large System Fonts After Installing PowerPoint for Windows PSS ID Number: Q68397 Article last modified on 10-29-1991 PSS database name: W_PowerPt

2.00

WINDOWS

Summary:

After installing PowerPoint for Windows, the screen font used by the Windows desktop may become extremely large. The screen font, which is used by Program Manager and other Windows utilities for the names of icons, menu options, and dialog boxes, will be changed to a font so large that not all messages, options, or dialog boxes will be legible.

This behavior occurs when the screen fonts that were originally being used on your system were the wrong resolution for the video driver currently installed. For example, you may be using regular VGA screen fonts while you have a high-resolution or 8514/A video driver installed. This situation may have occurred because your system was originally set up for standard VGA, but you later installed a high-resolution driver without installing the appropriate high- resolution fonts for it.

If you have this problem, install the appropriate set of screen fonts from the original Windows disks:


 * 1) From the Control Panel select Fonts.
 * 2) Select the Add button.
 * 3) Select the appropriate font file(s).

You can also achieve this task without using the Windows Control Panel, as follows:


 * 1) Use the EXPAND.EXE utility to decompress and copy the appropriate font files from the Windows Setup disks to the WINDOWS subdirectory.
 * 2) Modify the [fonts] section of the WIN.INI file to point to the location of those new font files.

More Information:

The screen font used for Program Manager icons, is chosen from the list of available screen fonts in the WIN.INI file. Preference is given to those fonts that match the screen resolution of the video driver installed. If you have installed Windows for the VGA video driver, Program Manager uses the font closest to Helv 8 (VGA Res). This font is included in the the file HELVE.FON. If that font is not installed, the system will attempt to pick an appropriate substitute, choosing from fonts with the correct resolution first.

When you install PowerPoint for Windows, you may also install the large screen fonts that come with it. PowerPoint for Windows will install the set of large fonts that are appropriate for the video driver being used by Windows. One of the fonts that will be installed is Helv 24 point. If no other Helv screen font of the appropriate resolution is currently on the system, Windows will choose Helv 24 as the best substitute, resulting in the large text under the icons in Program Manager.

/* keywords: Helvetica 36 dialog

Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1991.