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Need recommendations for ScreenMagnifying applications

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JoTo:
Hi DCs,

today i need your help. A friend of mine asked me if i am aware of a good screen magnifiying application as he needs one for a also, like me, visually impaired friend of him.

As i own a hardware solution (my graphic card has a built in magnifying option), i don't use a software app for this. But i bragged, when my friend asks me, that i know the best place on earth...errr...net to ask for such things. DONATIONCODER!!! :-))

Using the same graphic card for his friend is not an option as she is using a laptop with a built in graphic card.

The app don't have to be totally free. A reasonable price, up to $50 or so, is acceptable.

But there are two kinds of magnifying applications out there.

Kind 1
Showing a small window on the desktop with the magnified content of the area under the cursor or a fixed area of the screen.

There are a lot of this kind out there, so i need recommendations for "what is the best" or "what do you use" or "what is your favourite one". Testing all of them by myself is nearly impossible.

Kind 2
A magnifying application that magnifies the whole desktop e.g. by 2 or 4 (like my hardware solution do), showing only a part of the desktop on the screen and scrolls the screen contents (the magnified desktop) up/down/right/left when the mouse touches the corresponding border. So it's like i have a very big desktop that don't fit on the screen and hides the "outside parts". (I hope you understand what i mean).

I have no real idea for this kind of app. I only saw this feature, beside in my hardware solution, in an app named "Zoomtext". But this app is veeeeery expensive and has a lot of whistles and bells beside the magnifying feature (e.g. a Screenreader that reads the screen content aloud a.s.o.) that makes it so expensive and is not really needed.

So, do anyone know about a reasonable priced magnifying "Kind 2-App" that do this?
Or do anyone know a site with a "Magnifying Application Comparison/Review"?

I really appreciate any hint and recommendation. I am grateful for everyones time spent for writing me a reply. TIA!

CU
JoTo

cthorpe:
Well, there's BigShot (program: http://www.aisquared.com/Products/BigShot/index.cfm. very old review: http://www.compukiss.com/populartopics/computercenterhtm/review132.htm) by the same company that makes ZooomText.

I'm still looking for more, and will post more if I find them.

Here are some reviews http://www.magnifiers.org/links/Reviews/



Bingo!  A free full screen magnifier:
http://magnifiers.org/news.php?action=fullnews&id=221   :Thmbsup:

It has some problems, most notably being that it can't keep magnifying if you open a menu in windows, but it works for reading, seeing icons, etc.

Need recommendations for ScreenMagnifying applications Need recommendations for ScreenMagnifying applications

JoTo:
I have known that there are answers for this topic on DC.

Many many thanks cthorpe.

CU
JoTo

Nod5:
I primarily use Magnifyer that comes Windows XP. It's primitive but suits my need to navigate the file system and so on when using tv-out.

Another small, free tool is ZoomIt from Sysinternals (now a part of Microsoft). It's "kind 2". However, it's primarily made for presentations and you can't click on files while in zoom mode. You can however point and draw on the screen to emphasize a point during a presentation.

lanux128:
there is one that is AHK-based: Magnifier.

a little bit similar to the built-in magnifier of accessories in windows. but much better performance and you have the sourcecode and can optimize it for your needs. there are over 5 versions as people in the ahk-forum optimized them for their needs. Its even fast enough to magnify flash-videos in realtime.
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