Windows Inside & Out · Settings & Accounts · Lesson 4 of 5

Accessibility Built In

Use the free tools that make a computer easier to see, hear and use.

Making the screen easier to see

Accessibility means making technology usable for everyone, including people with low vision, hearing loss or shaky hands. Windows has many free tools for this. You don't need a diagnosis to use them. Plenty of people turn them on just because their eyes are tired.

They all live in Settings > Accessibility. Here are the ones for seeing the screen:

• Text size. A slider that makes words bigger everywhere, without changing pictures and icons.
• Mouse pointer and touch. Makes the arrow bigger and lets you change its color. A bright, large pointer is much easier to find.
• Magnifier. A zoom tool that enlarges part or all of the screen, like a magnifying glass. Press Windows+Plus to turn it on and zoom in, Windows+Minus to zoom out, and Windows+Esc to turn it off.
• Contrast themes. Contrast is how different the text looks from its background. A contrast theme uses bold colors, like white or yellow text on black, so words stand out sharply.

Try one change at a time. Then use the computer for a day and see how it feels. If something is too much, turn it back down.

Bigger text is not only for older eyes. It reduces strain for anyone who reads a lot on a laptop screen.

On the practice computer, make the mouse pointer bigger and turn on Magnifier. Then turn on Live captions and find Narrator.

Hearing, reading aloud and the Mac

Some tools help with sound and reading rather than seeing.

Narrator is a screen reader. A screen reader is a program that reads out loud what is on the screen, including buttons and menus. People who are blind use it to work the whole computer by keyboard. Press Windows+Ctrl+Enter to turn it on or off. If it starts talking by surprise, that same shortcut turns it off.

Live captions turns speech into words on the screen. It works with sound from any app, such as a video call, a video on a website or a podcast. Press Windows+Ctrl+L to start it. The first time, Windows downloads what it needs. After that, the speech is turned into text on your computer, not sent to the internet. Captions help people with hearing loss, and anyone in a noisy room.

Some extra tips:

• Under Accessibility > Audio, Mono audio sends all sound to both ears. It helps if you hear better on one side.
• Visual effects lets you turn off animations if motion bothers you.

A Mac has the same kinds of tools in System Settings > Accessibility. Zoom is its magnifier. VoiceOver is its screen reader, toggled with Command+F5. Display settings there let you enlarge the pointer and increase contrast, and newer Macs offer Live Captions too.