Windows 10: Magnifier

Hi,

when I switched from Win 7 to Win 10 I noticed that in order to magnify with a built-in magnifier I need to press Win + plus key twice: the first time to make this app run and the second time to magnify. Under Win 7 I only had to press once to enlarge the fonts to a desired (i.e. previously used) rate.

Is it possible to change its behaviour and revert it to what it was like in Windows 7?

:)

 

Windows 10 - how can i change the size of the scroll bar ? it used to be under properties but not on Windows 10

I also have disabilities and desperately need to increase the width of the side scroll bar

 

Windows 10 Magnifier - settings / options missing

The Docked Magnifier is not a normal window (any more than its Lens or Fullscreen modes are normal windows, though I might concede that it is closest to having some of the properties of a normal window). The
Magnifier window is the thing that you see when you click on the Magnifier icon (or switch to the Magnifier using either of the methods I demonstrated, among others.) E.g. you can Minimize it, you can Close it, just like a normal window.
It also contains controls for changing the Magnifier in various ways. As I mentioned several times an easy way to see it is to use the Task View; then you can see the
Magnifier window in a thumbnail. Unfortunately, as we have discovered the Magnifier Options dialog window is not included in that thumbnail as a clue that keyboard focus will be given to it, not to the Magnifier window when a task switch to
the Magnifier (for its controls) is requested. That can be confusing, especially when the Magnifier Options dialog window is far disassociated from both the Magnifier and the Magnifier window and even worse when it can't be seen for whatever reason.

 

I don't routinely use Magnifier, but trying it out it works for me as you would wish - it opens at the magnification I previously used (whether as a Lens, Docked or Full screen). It should work that way for you too.

Try clicking on the >> in the middle of the transparent magnifier icon that is shown somewhere on your screen to open the app's window. Then use its +/- buttons to set the zoom then close the Magnifier. You could also try switching its Views settings a few times. This may make it save its settings properly and remember your preferred settings.

 

Bree, I do appreciate your suggestions, thank you.

Just one more question: do you have to press Win + plus key twice to let the magnifier do its job? I was accustomed for many years to click only one time under Win 7 and now each time I have to press the Win and plus key combination twice I go bonkers.

 

No, just one press needed. It then opens at the 'Views' setting (currently 'Lens') and magnification (currently 200%) that it was using the last time I closed it.

Behave this way on two PCs, one is x64 W10 Home, the other x86 W10 Pro.

Do you use any other accessibility options, or any 3rd-party accessibility tools? Maybe some keyboard accessibility setting is causing this behaviour?

 

A couple of weeks ago I posted a question on tenforums about making print screens (I make more or less 100 of them every day, that's why it was so important to me) because instead of Alt + PrintScreen (in order to capture an active window, i.e. without taskbar and Menus) I need to press Win + PrintScreen (which captures the whole screen). It was the first sign to me that something goes wrong with my machine. And now a similar problem with Magnifier.

I use this version of Windows:





if it helps. Really sorry, but my English is not so good and I don't understand what accessibility options/tools/settings are. Due to the failing eyesight I increased the size of "text, apps and other items" to 175% and the only application that could alter the normal behavior of my PC is AutoSizer, which I've been using for at least 5 years now.

PS
I've just changed my keyboard (PS2 to USB) but to no avail.

 

You have me stumped, I cannot get my PC to behave as yours does. A few thoughts on other things you could look at.

Does the Win key work with one press for the other things it can do? For example, if you use WinKey + R does the 'Run' box appear immediately, or WinKey + S for Search?

Have you got any Hot Keys set up that may be causing a conflict? This utility from Nirsoft can list all your hot keys.
HotKeysList - View registered hot keys on Windows

How many keyboard languages do you have? Does it need two presses in all your keyboard languages? Some keyboards like the 'US-International' do have a 'press twice' effect for some keys - like the " or ' key which can be used to create accents like Ä or Á.

Do you have another user account on this PC? If so, does it behave the same way for all users?

 

Yes, it does. The ONLY problem is with Win + plus/minus key (numeric or above - and = keys) and with PrintScreen (I have to press Win + PrintScreen instead of PrintScreen / Alt + PrintScreen only). Other than that my computer works fine since August 2015.

No, I haven't.

Thank you for the Nirsoft utility. That's what it shows:

Just one (i.e. Polish) and I never used any other in order to avoid accidental typography errors:





For Polish diacritical marks I use right Alt and a relevant letter (a, e, l, o, z).

No. Just one.

One more thing: when I press Win + plus/minus key the Magnifier tool appears on the screen. In order to magnify I need to: press + / - on the Magnifier tool or press Win plus +/- on the keyboard, but the Magnifier stays on the screen so I have to Minimize it to the Taskbar - do you also have to click on the "-" sign of the Magnifier tool to Minimize it or does it disappear from the screen and runs in the background?

 

No, when I press WinKey and + it appears on the screen as yours does, but after about ten seconds it fades away to leave a semi-transparent magnifying glass icon in its place. I can click on the magnifying glass to restore it, or on its icon in the taskbar.

 

Again, Bree, many thanks.
I'm nowhere near the end of this puzzle. I'll keep searching hoping that one day I'll be able to scream: Heureka!

 

Here is the Registry path to Magnifier: HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Software \ Microsoft \ ScreenMagnifier. Can you check your settings and tell me if yours are identical (Zoomincrement may be different in your case)?








By the way it's a nice place to tune it in.

 

Interesting, you have a lot more values in that key than I do. LensHeight was the first on in my list, but Invert was added when I turned on colour inversion. I don't have ZoomIncrement, the zoom level it opens with is the value in Magnification.

I had a look at the same key on a Win7 PC that hadn't used magnifier yet. It didn't exist, but when I used WinKey and + the key was created. It was the same as for Win10 except it was missing RunningState. Also, the magnifier in Win7 behaved exactly the same way as in Win10 - only one press needed, remembering my zoom level and so on.

I haven't found any setting in the Ease of Access Centre that adds any of your values. Do you have Classic Shell or similar installed (I don't) - that may have added the extra values.

 

Thank you very much for the comparison. It slowly leads me to believe that the problem is in my Windows Installer Version. In September 2015 I asked the man at the computer shop to build a "custom computer" with the best parts he had (to meet my expectations without exceeding a certain sum of money) and to install the original Win 10 Pro system. I could be talking nonsense but I start to believe that the Polish version may have some minor errors.

I keep away from any apps that modify the appearance of the system like Classic Shell or similar.

 

Heureka!

When I changed the tracking setting (in the magnifier's options)





from "Follow the mouse pointer" to "Follow the keyboard focus" the tool started to magnify with one press only. I've been using an old PS2 mouse and most probably it's incompatible with my motherboard or Windows 10.

I'd like to thank everybody, especially Bree, for all your help.