Magnifying Glass Pro 1.8

#90

This is a wonderful program. I've been using it off and on each day as necessary since I installed it a few weeks ago. Yes, surely there are numerous ways you can make font bigger etc. as necessary. But this is ideal for that quick thing you just want to see once that is too small.

I am using it on a netbook and it's made a huge difference.

Reply | Comment by opie – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#89

Windows already has a magnifier built in.

Reply | Comment by Caleb – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#88

Obviously for the visually impaired is a great feature to have a magnifying glass on screen. For me too when I receive documents from all over the world with seals and stamps, signatures and apostilles but for the intellectually impaired this program is definitely a problem, see # 29, an "Agent" I wouldn't hire with a 10 foot pole.
To #20 Vince thank you, I didn't know about this simple feature, just tell us how to get back to the original setting, please!. Bill Gates threw at us a SW and after 10 years we keep discovering hidden treasures.
For sure #32 Mike is not the same Mike like in #52 and 57. The first one should join Agent01 and become Agent 02. The reading of people's comments are self explanatory and enlightening, they only HAVE to be read.

Reply | Comment by Purrete – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)

#87

I am legally-blind and I use ZoomText 7.0 [by Asquared] on my pre-WinXP systems. It works nicely, but it cost $700.00 to buy in 1999. On my WinXP systems, I was forced to use the wimpy "magnifier" accessory which only allows you a few opations.

Magnifying Glass Pro seems to be a great program for my XP system. It does seems to lag a little, even when i turned off the enhancements like anti-aliasing and such, and moved it to real-time viewing, but for the FREE price, it is worth it, for many of the uses mentioned by previous posts.

I have tried the Win7 and its magnifier is pretty good also, but I am not prepared to pay $200 to upgrade my old system when June 2010 comes.

So, for those who need a magnifier that works fairly well and is FREE, I give this a 8 out of 10.
Ron

Reply | Comment by Ron – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+4)

#86

Since I am getting old might be something check out plus other Magnifiers mentioned by above!! Googled how to -

Using Windows XP Magnifier
Turn On and Use Magnifier

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/accessibility/magnifierturnon.mspx

Reply | Comment by Dan Long – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)

#85

#84 if you could, use administrator account to run setup and activation
I experienced use Run As... admin, ran into some ini file in program folder write error, also reboot system after activation might help.

Reply | Comment by LEGOletgo – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-1)

#84

And yes the magnifier is a great utility for me for viewing Engineering drawings without zooming or changing screen resolutions.
-Jonas

Reply | Comment by Jonas – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+5)

#83

Why is the Magnifying open link saying the word Trial? thx

Reply | Comment by bre – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-1)

#82

Can't get Glass Pro to show it is activated on XP Pro SP3 x32. Even though the Activate.exe program says it was activated OK. Corrected this by completely closing & uninstalling Glass Pro, then reinstalling, not checking "Launch Application" at the end of the install process, & then running Activate.exe. Now Glass Pro under register says "Give Away of the Day" rather than "30 days trial". Hope that this helps some of the others.

Reply | Comment by Marshall – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+5)

#81

Very nice with many features. I like this better than ZOOMIT.
Thanks.

Reply | Comment by danzeb – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)

#80

Help!!!! Installed and registered fine on my laptop with XP but Kaspersky is complaining that it is acting like a keylogger.
I have been missing this program since the last edition died with my last laptop.
Thanks for having it back.

Reply | Comment by Dobromilka – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#79

I like (and need) this giveaway. Works as it should. Thanks so much!

Reply | Comment by Chris – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-1)

#78

To get into or out of the magnifier mode simply click the glass at the botto of the screen. Great program.

Reply | Comment by Soalra – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#77

Downloaded and took a look. thought would be of use on netbook, but without an ext mouse... too hard to work with.

going to take a bit of use to unstand all the features -- like how to change the shape of the glass for web clicking and text reading. for text, would like the full width of a couple of lines, and for web the box is okay.

Tried as was typing this and the box idn[ vmoe soe couldnt see what ws typing --- don liker that

wanted for the copy screen functions as well.

Reply | Comment by cb – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-1)

#76

This app does many things the "OEM" magnifier doesn't, or there wouldn't have been someone taking the time & effort to write & debug it, get it put on commercial ("pressed") CDs, etc.;

(Sigh);
OK, we KNOW the basic Magnifier function has been in Windows since Win-95, not "just Vista" or "Windows7" or the "latest, greatest(?)" version to come out of Redmond;

Think! If it was just a "rehash" of the original "Windows Magnifier", not only would it be a waste of time for the programmer(s), but Microsoft would "be all over" whoever tried to sell "part of their existing Intellectual Property", don'cha think?

(And yes, I DID double-check, in my oldest laptop, {1999 Toshiba Satellite 435-CDS}, which IS still running Windows 95 "rev-B", and it really IS in there!)

This app IS nice for those who have sight problems, according to an expert in that line & also a computer "novice":

My father, who has had one cornea replaced, {but it doesn't work very well}, and also had surgery for glaucoma in his other eye, {which also doesn't work too well anymore, but the glaucoma is gone};

He loves to read, and often has "ink-marks" on his nose, (from reading things he has to hold so close to see them well enough to read them, that they're really "against his nose" before he can focus enough to read them);

And, regarding this app, (when I saw it & called him & "walked him through" getting & installing it),
...even HE said: "Wow, that's pretty neat! It's MUCH better than that other one!",

...Which is the "Magnifier" function "built-in" to every version of Windows since at least Win95, which I'd told him about in 2003, when my mother died, & he still had her computer {Win-2000} & decided to learn to use it.

If even HE says it helps him see the screen, then it MUST be worthwhile to SOME degree!

(Just before my mother died, I moved, and while emailing HER was no problem, after she was gone, my Dad tried it, but we had to give up on it, due to his rapidly-deteriorating eyesight).

If he finds that he can use it to see well enough to send me emails again, I'll buy him a copy for every computer he ever wants to get, while he's still able to be here to use one.

Remember, this "Comments" section is supposed to be about the GiveAwayOfTheDay, and NOT "just another forum or chat-room of all things off-subject"!

"If it's something that fits YOUR needs, then it's worth it to YOU".

Don't base a "review" of software on what you DON'T need or will use;

Base it on what you DO need & feel you'll use all of the time!

Be fair to the people who write code to feed their families & keep a roof over their heads! Would YOU write an app like this, knowing that "That app's primary function is already part of the OS you're writing it for"?

Of COURSE not! You'd be writing stuff that people will find a use or need for, so they'll BUY it, so you can support yourself & your family!

This "Comments on THIS piece of s/w" area seems to rapidly be turning into "just another Forum where people gripe & "flame",

Although there ARE just as many who try the s/w and give an honest assessment of what they think of it, based on what they find it's capable of, vs. what it's claimed salient points are;

The first group needs to "take it to the other forums & chatrooms", while those who are actually TRYING the s/w should stay here & keep doing what they're doing!

I'd REALLY hate to see the team of GAOTD folks "decide to give up on all of the whining & so on", and have this site disappear, since they've "saved MY bacon" more than a few times already, and I haven't even known about this site for more than several months!

Here's hoping that the GAOTD Team doesn't "give up, turn out the lights & lock the door" because of things like all of the comments that repeat over & over:
"That's already PART of Windows", in the ONE place where that comment doesn't belong!

And to the GAOTD Team: I thank you, my father thanks you, and everyone who "gets it" thanks you more than words can express!

J.

This app does many things the "OEM" magnifier doesn't, or there wouldn't have been someone taking the time &amp; effort to write &amp; debug it, get it put on commercial ("pressed") CDs, etc.;

(Sigh);
  OK, we KNOW the basic Magnifier function has been in Windows since Win-95, not "just Vista" or "Windows7" or the "latest, greatest(?)" version to come out of Redmond;

Think! If it was just a "rehash" of the original "Windows Magnifier", not only would it be a waste of time for the programmer(s), but Microsoft would "be all over" whoever tried to sell "part of their existing Intellectual Property", don'cha think?

(And yes, I DID double-check, in my oldest laptop, {1999 Toshiba Satellite 435-CDS}, which IS still running Windows 95 "rev-B", and it really IS in there!)

This app IS nice for those who have sight problems, according to an expert in that line &amp; also a computer "novice":

My father, who has had one cornea replaced, {but it doesn't work very well}, and also had surgery for glaucoma in his other eye, {which also doesn't work too well anymore, but the glaucoma is gone};

He loves to read, and often has "ink-marks" on his nose, (from reading things he has to hold so close to see them well enough to read them, that they're really "against his nose" before he can focus enough to read them);

And, regarding this app, (when I saw it &amp; called him &amp; "walked him through" getting &amp; installing it),
 ...even HE said: "Wow, that's pretty neat! It's MUCH better than that other one!",

...Which is the "Magnifier" function "built-in" to every version of Windows since at least Win95, which I'd told him about in 2003, when my mother died, &amp; he still had her computer {Win-2000} &amp; decided to learn to use it.

If even HE says it helps him see the screen, then it MUST be worthwhile to SOME degree!

(Just before my mother died, I moved, and while emailing HER was no problem, after she was gone, my Dad tried it, but we had to give up on it, due to his rapidly-deteriorating eyesight).

If he finds that he can use it to see well enough to send me emails again, I'll buy him a copy for every computer he ever wants to get, while he's still able to be here to use one.

Remember, this "Comments" section is supposed to be about the GiveAwayOfTheDay, and NOT "just another forum or chat-room of all things off-subject"!

"If it's something that fits YOUR needs, then it's worth it to YOU".

Don't base a "review" of software on what you DON'T need or will use;

Base it on what you DO need &amp; feel you'll use all of the time!

Be fair to the people who write code to feed their families &amp; keep a roof over their heads! Would YOU write an app like this, knowing that "That app's primary function is already part of the OS you're writing it for"?

Of COURSE not! You'd be writing stuff that people will find a use or need for, so they'll BUY it, so you can support yourself &amp; your family!

This "Comments on THIS piece of s/w" area seems to rapidly be turning into "just another Forum where people gripe &amp; "flame",

Although there ARE just as many who try the s/w and give an honest assessment of what they think of it, based on what they find it's capable of, vs. what it's claimed salient points are;

The first group needs to "take it to the other forums &amp; chatrooms", while those who are actually TRYING the s/w should stay here &amp; keep doing what they're doing!

I'd REALLY hate to see the team of GAOTD folks "decide to give up on all of the whining &amp; so on", and have this site disappear, since they've "saved MY bacon" more than a few times already, and I haven't even known about this site for more than several months!

Here's hoping that the GAOTD Team doesn't "give up, turn out the lights &amp; lock the door" because of things like all of the comments that repeat over &amp; over:
"That's already PART of Windows", in the ONE place where that comment doesn't belong!

And to the GAOTD Team: I thank you, my father thanks you, and everyone who "gets it" thanks you more than words can express!

J.

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Reply | Comment by J. – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+10)

#75

Doesnt anyone with VISTA know the hidden secret of its own magnifier. Just hold down Control and scroll with mouse up or down and hey...its like magic. Pity they never tell you this anywhere !!

Reply | Comment by HidyHo – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-1)

#74

my firewall kept flashing a warning sign saying (keylogger behavior detected)and would not stop flashing warnings,this program try to install an informer software using 2 dialog boxes, the Magnifying Glass Pro 1.8 uninstaller mess up some start up programs that I had to fix to start up again.

Reply | Comment by shnider – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-1)

#73

For who missed today giveaway, open source alternative - fairly good:
Virtual Magnifying Glass magnifier.sourceforge.net
Best day to all
Nándor

Reply | Comment by Nándor – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)

#72

This is good for people who have trouble seeing small things, as it makes they look bigger (magnifies them). Therefore I give it one thumb up.

Reply | Comment by dog – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#71

For those who are having trouble activating this, where the program continues to say it's a 30-day trial, despite the fact that you have gotten the web page pop-up that says it was successfully activated, try restarting your computer.

That's what I ran into on XP Pro, until I finally thought of trying a restart.

Reply | Comment by Joe T. – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)

#70

Windows has it's own Magnifier since Windows XP.
I don't think anyone would need to use a 3rd party shareware when there's a built in free tool available in Windows unless you need more than just a magnifier.
@60: Use 7-Zip instead of WinZip, it's free.

Reply | Comment by DDS – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-5)

#69

#46 Under "OPTIONS MAIN DIALOG" > "GLASS PROFILES" > "GENERAL" TAB you'll find options for the shampe of the magnifyer (retangular, elipse, and round. You will also find option boxes to increase the width and height of the magnifyer.

Reply | Comment by unowen – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)

#68

@57 thanks for your detailed response.

Reply | Comment by jason – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-1)

#67

Fubar & others:

The 100% CPU cycle consumption is mentioned on this page:

http://www.workerscollection.com/wcollect/english/html/onlinedoc/MagniGlassPro_en/Pages/known_issues.htm

...and repeated here as a known "issue" (hopefully wo copyright issues!):

----------------

Big CPU power consumption

Magnifying Glass Pro consumes a substantial amount of CPU power under these conditions:

* The larger the Glass area, the higher the CPU power consumption. Therefore "Full Screen" mode uses the most CPU power.

* When the slider "Glass Profiles --> Basic options --> Update Glass interval" is set to "Real-time”.

* The more you move your mouse, the more often the Glass must update the view, therefore CPU consumption is higher.

* When using the "Anti-aliasing" Glass option.

* When the Glass is used with any settings denoted as a "CPU max" option.

----------------

Do these cover the case(s) you mentioned?

Reply | Comment by harpo2448 – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+4)

#66

Thanks GAOTD! Great program! Works great with dual monitors because the zoom window can move across to the secondary monitor without having to use any workarounds (ZoomIt requires the secondary monitor to have the active window before you activate the zoom feature). I have WinXP and don't plan to upgrade just for a stripped down magnification feature. MG Pro has the ability to save profiles which helps with customizing for use with different applications. Definitely a keeper!

Reply | Comment by johnnylately – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)

#65

Thank you! I've been waiting for this to come back as I lost it from my last install. By far the best magnifying program out there. Others don't come close.

Reply | Comment by MadCat – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+1)

#64

To everyone who needs the magnifier to see the items on their screen - Have you considered just changing the screen resolution first?

Reply | Comment by Daniel Lovejoy – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-8)

#63

I use 7-Zip which is a free one. It will open zip files and rar files and opened this for me without any problem.

Reply | Comment by Evie – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+3)

#62

XP Pro has a magnifier built in. See Control Panel, Accessibility.

Reply | Comment by cnmoore – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-13)

#61

#20 - Vince: Thanks for the info. I did not know you could do that. It will be a great help when I do volunteer work with genealogy. Thanks again!!!

Reply | Comment by justme – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-1)

#60

For anyone who is interested, List of changes for Magnifying Glass Pro
(can be found in Option's > About)

Version 1.8 (20 June 2009)
Added mouse wheel to HotKeys.
Added option for three Glass shapes.
Added options to change the size and color of the magnified cursor. Also, the size of the cursor is no longer dependent on the current zoom value.
All visual effects are faster.
Added a new visual effect: "Web Designer".
Contrast options have been moved to visual effects.
New option for Windows Vista was added to allow for correct switching to/from the Aero style.
Added a feature called "Float Zone" to the "Under Cursor" position mode. The Glass is not moving while the cursor stays in "Float Zone" area.
Added the option "Display transparent windows and effects" for fixed position modes.
The visual appearance has been enhanced.
Bug fixes have been integrated.

Version 1.7 (12 June 2008)
Added HotKeys for all operations.
Added new HotKey "Lock/Unlock Glass".
The anomaly where the real cursor was incorrectly displaced by the Glass has been resolved.
Some visual effects are faster now.
The Czech language is now supported by the Magnifying Glass Pro user interface.
The visual appearance has been enhanced.
Bug fixes have been integrated.

Version 1.6 (01 March 2008)
"Command Mode" can now be toggled on/off (no need to hold down keys anymore).
Mouse buttons can be added to your Hotkeys combinations (i.e. Alt + MouseLeftButton; or MouseLeftButton + MouseRightButton)
Additional languages are now supported by the user interface: German, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch.
Bug where the mouse cursor disappeared has been resolved.

Version 1.5 (26 October 2007)
New Full Screen mode.
Qualitative anti-aliasing (smoothing).
Lower CPU power consumption.
Glass no longer goes beyond screen edges.
Ability to maximize the Magnifying Glass Pro window.
More comfortable Command Mode behaviour.
New copy to clipboard function.
Better visual appearance.
Improved Install and Uninstall procedures.
Bug fixes.

Version 1.4 (26 June 2007)
Compatibility with Windows Vista.
Higher reliability.
Option for resizing all dialogs and fonts in Magnifying Glass Pro. This is useful for visually impaired users.
Improved Glass performance.
Better visual appearance.
Bug fixes.

Version 1.3 (01 March 2007)
Improved visual appearance of application. Bugs fixes.

Version 1.2 (04 August 2006)
Public release.

For anyone who is interested, List of changes for Magnifying Glass Pro 
(can be found in Option's &gt; About)

Version 1.8  (20 June 2009)
Added mouse wheel to HotKeys.
Added option for three Glass shapes.
Added options to change the size and color of the magnified cursor. Also, the size of the cursor is no longer dependent on the current zoom value.
All visual effects are faster.
Added a new visual effect: "Web Designer".
Contrast options have been moved to visual effects.
New option for Windows Vista was added to allow for correct switching to/from the Aero style.
Added a feature called "Float Zone" to the "Under Cursor" position mode. The Glass is not moving while the cursor stays in "Float Zone" area.
Added the option "Display transparent windows and effects" for fixed position modes.
The visual appearance has been enhanced.
Bug fixes have been integrated.

Version 1.7  (12 June 2008)
Added HotKeys for all operations.
Added new HotKey "Lock/Unlock Glass".
The anomaly where the real cursor was incorrectly displaced by the Glass has been resolved.
Some visual effects are faster now.
The Czech language is now supported by the Magnifying Glass Pro user interface.
The visual appearance has been enhanced.
Bug fixes have been integrated.

Version 1.6  (01 March 2008)
"Command Mode" can now be toggled on/off (no need to hold down keys anymore).
Mouse buttons can be added to your Hotkeys combinations  (i.e. Alt + MouseLeftButton;  or MouseLeftButton + MouseRightButton) 
Additional languages are now supported by the user interface: German, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch.
Bug where the mouse cursor disappeared has been resolved.

Version 1.5  (26 October 2007)
New Full Screen mode.
Qualitative anti-aliasing (smoothing).
Lower CPU power consumption. 
Glass no longer goes beyond screen edges.
Ability to maximize the Magnifying Glass Pro window.
More comfortable Command Mode behaviour.
New copy to clipboard function.
Better visual appearance. 
Improved Install and Uninstall procedures.
Bug fixes.

Version 1.4  (26 June 2007)
Compatibility with Windows Vista. 
Higher reliability. 
Option for resizing all dialogs and fonts in Magnifying Glass Pro. This is useful for visually impaired users.
Improved Glass performance. 
Better visual appearance. 
Bug fixes.

Version 1.3  (01 March 2007)
Improved visual appearance of application. Bugs fixes.

Version 1.2  (04 August 2006)
Public release.

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Reply | Comment by GOTD Fans – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+2)

#59

One technical problem I had not had before.

This comes as a WinZip file and it is not obvious how to unzip it.

I had a free trial on the computer (expired) and it does not now open this (presumably would if I paid for it). I had previously downloaded program from this site with no problems.\

Any suggestions? (and for others with the same issue).

Reply | Comment by Edward Miller – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-8)

#58

I too don't like the enter/exit hotkey- a single [user-choosable] key would be better.
I've seen a few others as laden with features as this. I've found that you don't really need 90% of them- it's rare to need even simple magnification. They're nice to have. I think very few people would *pay* for them tho.
The one feature i wish it had: an eye-dropper to identify/select colors. Another fun feature it lacks: a circular lens.

Off-topic: GAOD's Wondershare FLV Downloader Pro isn't working out for me- if you set "sniffer on" it also auto-flags/warns-of .wmv's, avi's, and .mpeg's in addition to .flv's, a real pain in the....! [No help on their site of course, and the program's menus appear in light beige on white too... arg!]

Reply | Comment by marinus – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-11)

#57

Win7 has a very cool new magnifying feature.

Reply | Comment by SloppyGoat – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-13)

#56

#11: "Doesn’t play well with Aero in Win 7"

From the help file: "When Aero Glass style is enabled, however, Magnifying Glass Pro can't work in Under Cursor or Full Screen position mode. If you are running Magnifying Glass Pro in Under Cursor or Full Screen position mode on a Windows Vista system and Aero Glass style is enabled too, Magnifying Glass Pro automatically switches the operating system to the simple Aero style (no blurred glass effect) temporarily. Otherwise, Under Cursor and Full Screen position modes would not work.
When this switching occurs, all open windows are redrawn. If you find the redraw effect annoying, you can do one of two things:
Don't use Under Cursor or Full Screen position mode in your Magnifying Glass Pro preferences
Disable the Aero Glass style in your Windows Vista Screen Options
If you want to use both the Aero Glass style for Windows Vista and Under Cursor/Full Screen position modes in Magnifying Glass Pro, you'll have to tolerate the screen redraw.
* * *

#18: "Can you use it in a game?"

*Probably* not... Won't work with Direct X apps (per the help file), which many (most?) games are, plus many games take control over the display.

* * *

#34: "Could someone please tell me where this “built in to Win 7″ zoom feature is please."

Most all Windows: Start menu -> Accessories -> Accessibility, though it may have to be installed thru Control Panel's add/remove programs applet. Additionally Vista & 7 have some zooming features built into some (usually Microsoft) apps.

"...many comments include “must be run with administrator rights. HUH, I’m the only profile (Win 7) how would I do this..."

Vista & win7 do not give you full admin rights by default -- for info you can check out the so-called Super Admin on-line. Certain parts of the registry for example are off limits to software unless it's run as administrator, which can be done from the right click menu, or for an app you run more than once, you can set the shortcut to run as admin, or right click the exe file, click properties, then go to the compatibility tab.

* * *

#36: "This Software will not Activate for me. Even when running as Administrator. The Software still says Unregistered trail version You have 30 days left. I’m running Vista 32 bit."

#43: "is this really a 30 day trial version though?"

You may need to run Activate.exe as admin [right click exe file], then allow access for/with your firewall (if you have one) to get the key entered in the registry. In the app's "Options main dialog" [right click tray icon], go to About/Register, & the top caption should read "Registered to user: GiveAwayOfTheDay 1.8"

* * *

#46: "Is there anyway to increase the size of the magnified area and the shape of the magnifier? I have to move it too much to read a line of text, I would like the box to be larger."

from the help file: "You control the size and position of the Glass -- it can occupy the entire screen, or a smaller, user-defined area." Set up profiles how you need/want them.

#11: "Doesn’t play well with Aero in Win 7"

From the help file: "When Aero Glass style is enabled, however, Magnifying Glass Pro can't work in Under Cursor or Full Screen position mode. If you are running Magnifying Glass Pro in Under Cursor or Full Screen position mode on a Windows Vista system and Aero Glass style is enabled too,  Magnifying Glass Pro automatically switches the operating system to the simple Aero style (no blurred glass effect) temporarily. Otherwise, Under Cursor and Full Screen position modes would not work.
When this switching occurs, all open windows are redrawn. If you find the redraw effect annoying, you can do one of two things:
Don't use Under Cursor or Full Screen position mode in your Magnifying Glass Pro preferences 
Disable the Aero Glass style in your Windows Vista Screen Options
If you want to use both the Aero Glass style for Windows Vista and Under Cursor/Full Screen position modes in Magnifying Glass Pro, you'll have to tolerate the screen redraw.
*  *  *

#18: "Can you use it in a game?"

*Probably* not... Won't work with Direct X apps (per the help file), which many (most?) games are, plus many games take control over the display.

*  *  *

#34: "Could someone please tell me where this “built in to Win 7″ zoom feature is please."

Most all Windows: Start menu -&gt; Accessories -&gt; Accessibility, though it may have to be installed thru Control Panel's add/remove programs applet. Additionally Vista &amp; 7 have some zooming features built into some (usually Microsoft) apps.

"...many comments include “must be run with administrator rights. HUH, I’m the only profile (Win 7) how would I do this..."

Vista &amp; win7 do not give you full admin rights by default -- for info you can check out the so-called Super Admin on-line. Certain parts of the registry for example are off limits to software unless it's run as administrator, which can be done from the right click menu, or for an app you run more than once, you can set the shortcut to run as admin, or right click the exe file, click properties, then go to the compatibility tab.

*  *  *

#36: "This Software will not Activate for me. Even when running as Administrator. The Software still says Unregistered trail version You have 30 days left. I’m running Vista 32 bit."

#43: "is this really a 30 day trial version though?"

You may need to run Activate.exe as admin [right click exe file], then allow access for/with your firewall (if you have one) to get the key entered in the registry. In the app's "Options main dialog" [right click tray icon], go to About/Register, &amp; the top caption should read "Registered to user: GiveAwayOfTheDay 1.8"

*  *  *

#46: "Is there anyway to increase the size of the magnified area and the shape of the magnifier? I have to move it too much to read a line of text, I would like the box to be larger."

from the help file: "You control the size and position of the Glass -- it can occupy the entire screen, or a smaller, user-defined area." Set up profiles how you need/want them.

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Reply | Comment by mike – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+13)

#55

I don't understand the complaints. OK, you have no vision difficulties. OK, you have no UMPC using XP (like my Sony U750P which displays 800x600 on a 5" screen). OK, you like the magnifier on Windows 7. etc. etc.

So this software doesn't fit any of your needs. Why be short-sighted and therefore imagine it fits nobody's needs?

Reply | Comment by Joe T. – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+14)

#54

As a visually impared person, I found this program to be very useful - while there are magnifiers built into the Windows OSes, they are very simple and frankly, suck. Intellimouse software 6.3 has a much better one (follows the cursor, small thumb button hotkey that can be changed), but it requires a MS mouse - not something I use with my laptop. (Also, not going to be buying a new screen for my laptop as one "helpful" person suggested.)

If you need one, this one is one of the best.

Reply | Comment by M_Hagen – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+15)

#53

Magnifying Glass Pro utility works well for me- XP Pro. I did not realize the multitude of features until reading thru Ashraf's review- see #1 comment- which provided an excellent "how to" guide- IMHO. Now it is even of more value/use to me.

Thanks, GAOTD, Workers Collection, and Ashraf.

Reply | Comment by fk – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-2)

#52

I agree totally with #44 (Sue).

Somehow her comment reminded me of the scene in "Babe 2" where the candies are distributed one by one, and all the animals have to say "Thank you, Pig" for the one candy they are getting!

There is definitely a bias inherent. While there are thousands who download a product and have a positive experience using it, they do not come back to post, and there may be dozens who find a nag and do post about it.

As pointed out earlier too many times, the thumbs up/down system is not very reliable really, as many give a thumbs down if they do not consider the software useful, without even downloading it.

But i still believe its an overall gain for the developers as they get a real community feedback on their product. And the comments do include several practical suggestions many times to improve their software.

A feature i would like to see added, is a "total download count" of the daily giveaway, along with the 'thumbs up/down' figures.

Cheers to GOTD!

Reply | Comment by Cimmind – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+6)

#51

Well, Magnifying Glass Pro does just what it says it will -- I just don't know how useful that'll be. I was all excited years ago when Microsoft intro'd their magnifier tool for Windows, but then never found a real use for it. Same with the magnifier button on my Microsoft Mouse several years back. Same story with the zoom control on my MS keyboard. This morning I'm thinking that, because it has such a lightweight footprint, Magnifying Glass Pro might make a good portable app [using Portable App Creator], to carry & use on other PCs & laptops when I can't (or it's impractical, or maybe rude) to change display settings. My biggest problem with magnification apps is that the only time I need to zoom in is when I'm working with graphics &/or video, & then whatever software I'm using does so much of a better job, without all the jaggies -- the rest of the time, while my vision is far from perfect, I've got the display set.

It also occurs to me that gamers have their systems set for playing their favorite games, obviously, but that doesn't mean that that's all they do. I'd imagine that *in some cases* Magnifying Glass Pro might come in handy then, for their non-gaming use.

That said, Magnifying Glass Pro is extremely flexible, miles ahead of the built-in Windows utility. If you don't use it often & can't remember the hot-key combos, everything's accessible via mouse from the tray icon. You can also toggle the magnifier on/off by "shaking" the mouse, set profiles for individual apps, add effects including brightness, contrast etc, magnify the entire screen and so on.

The developer(s) deserve praise for being up front in the help file, listing known issues -- the important ones (IMHO): (A) "When Aero Glass style is enabled, however, Magnifying Glass Pro can't work in Under Cursor or Full Screen position mode." (B) "...the “Follow text editing” function does not work in all applications." ( C ) "Some users have observed that the middle button on their mouse isn’t supported by Magnifying Glass Pro HotKeys." (D) "Some antivirus applications and anti-spam utilities may report Magnifying Glass Pro as a "Constant keyboard reader" or as "Tracking user action" or something similar." (E) "It is a known limitation of Magnifying Glass Pro that transparent (semi-visible) windows and hints (yellow popup balloons) aren’t shown on the Glass." (F) "Magnifying Glass Pro is not designed to work with DirectX 3D applications."

Magnifying Glass Pro takes up ~2.25 MB in it's program folder, & installation adds a folder under the User App Data for storing a copy of the profiles &/or presets. In the registry it stores primarily the key & whether you want the app to start with Windows. While running, CPU & memory use were trivial according to task mgr.

Well, Magnifying Glass Pro does just what it says it will -- I just don't know how useful that'll be. I was all excited years ago when Microsoft intro'd their magnifier tool for Windows, but then never found a real use for it. Same with the magnifier button on my Microsoft Mouse several years back. Same story with the zoom control on my MS keyboard. This morning I'm thinking that, because it has such a lightweight footprint, Magnifying Glass Pro might make a good portable app [using Portable App Creator], to carry &amp; use on other PCs &amp; laptops when I can't (or it's impractical, or maybe rude) to change display settings. My biggest problem with magnification apps is that the only time I need to zoom in is when I'm working with graphics &amp;/or video, &amp; then whatever software I'm using does so much of a better job, without all the jaggies -- the rest of the time, while my vision is far from perfect, I've got the display set.

It also occurs to me that gamers have their systems set for playing their favorite games, obviously, but that doesn't mean that that's all they do. I'd imagine that *in some cases* Magnifying Glass Pro might come in handy then, for their non-gaming use.

That said, Magnifying Glass Pro is extremely flexible, miles ahead of the built-in Windows utility. If you don't use it often &amp; can't remember the hot-key combos, everything's accessible via mouse from the tray icon. You can also toggle the magnifier on/off by "shaking" the mouse, set profiles for individual apps, add effects including brightness, contrast etc, magnify the entire screen and so on.

The developer(s) deserve praise for being up front in the help file, listing known issues -- the important ones (IMHO): (A) "When Aero Glass style is enabled, however, Magnifying Glass Pro can't work in Under Cursor or Full Screen position mode." (B) "...the “Follow text editing” function does not work in all applications." ( C ) "Some users have observed that the middle button on their mouse isn’t supported by Magnifying Glass Pro HotKeys." (D) "Some antivirus applications and anti-spam utilities may report Magnifying Glass Pro as a "Constant keyboard reader" or as "Tracking user action" or something similar." (E) "It is a known limitation of Magnifying Glass Pro that transparent (semi-visible) windows and hints (yellow popup balloons) aren’t shown on the Glass." (F) "Magnifying Glass Pro is not designed to work with DirectX 3D applications."

Magnifying Glass Pro takes up ~2.25 MB in it's program folder, &amp; installation adds a folder under the User App Data for storing a copy of the profiles &amp;/or presets. In the registry it stores primarily the key &amp; whether you want the app to start with Windows. While running, CPU &amp; memory use were trivial according to task mgr.

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Reply | Comment by mike – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+17)

#50

GOOD ONE GOTD
Great reviews Ashraf & Fubar
Works great in Vista HP x64
I can see fine print again !!
A KEEPER

Reply | Comment by gregwashere2 – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#49

This program works great on my XP-SP3 DVR box, allows me to actually see the text on it!

Reply | Comment by NeedMoreCoffee – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-1)

#48

To me, this seems to be the best, most flexible, and most convenient of the magnifiers.

My XP laptop has a very small screen with high resolution. A magnifier is not only useful, it is often critical.

I have a command-line tool for "stressing" the system, etc., and even at virtually 100% CPU usage with maximum swap-file exchanges, this utility and the computer remain stable and functional. I see no indication on my XP system that this utility absorbs significant resources.

Thanks, team

Reply | Comment by Henry – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+7)

#47

Never mind. I found the options for size. Really like this as my sight deteriorates. Might not need it for Windows 7 but much better than the magnifier in Vista. Thanks much!

Reply | Comment by Ring – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (0)

#46

I got the 1.4 version last time it was offered. It does what it says it will do. Version 1.8 should do even better. If you a visually impaired to any extent and have trouble reading text. Then this magnifier will help. I personally dont need it, but am real glad that it is offered for those who do!

Reply | Comment by chuck – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+4)

#45

Is there anyway to increase the size of the magnified area and the shape of the magnifier? I have to move it too much to read a line of text, I would like the box to be larger.

Reply | Comment by Ring – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-7)

#44

Silly way to overbuden your system and make it slower: if really you don't wanna use the magnifier inbuilt in vista and Win7 , just buy a bigger screen.

Reply | Comment by plexus – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-30)

#43

Everyday I look to see what is offered here, I check the comments out and everyday it seems there are always more thumbs down than thumbs up comments. These software companies and programmers are offering something that they would like to make money on..to us here for free. It seems ungrateful to me that so many rake everything over the coals so badly. If you want something to perform exactly how you want it to perform....then learn how to create your own software. I really don't mean to be rude and I do appreciate comments that are helpful but some just complain about everything. It gets old.

Reply | Comment by Sue – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (+16)

#42

I just got a netbook so LOVE this. is this really a 30 day trial version though? Did I activate it correctly?

Reply | Comment by opirnia – 15 years ago – Did you find this comment useful? yes | no (-11)

#41

This is useful and actually fun. When I'm editing, I've been having to zoom or increase the text size of documents at times just to see the difference between periods, commas and other small features when using Word auto-correct. Now I can shake my mouse and a magnifying glass pops up so I can check the text, shake the glass away and keep moving.

Without the mouse shake, it would be so-so. With the mouse shake to turn it on and off, it's a keeper.

Marie