Virtual Magnifying Glass 3.4
A free, open source, screen magnifier, for Windows, Linux, FreeBSD and Mac OS X.
PAGE CONTROLS :
BLUE COLOR SCHEME
| LIGHT TEXT ON DARK
| DARK TEXT ON LIGHT
Introduction
| Download
| Getting started
| Shortcut keys
| Uninstalling
| Support
| Open source
| Donations
Virtual Magnifying Glass is a free, open source, cross-platform screen magnification tool. It is simple, customizable, and easy-to-use.
System requirements:
- Microsoft® Windows® Vista, 2003, XP, 2000, NT, ME, 98 or 95
- or a UNIX system running X11 (any Linux Distribution, FreeBSD, etc)
- or Mac OS X 10.4 or superior
- 800x600 or higher screen resolution and at least 16-bit colors recommended
- A good display adapter and CPU recommended for smooth performance
- Multiple-display systems are supported on Windows 98/ME, Windows NT4/2000/XP
- Multiple-display systems are not supported on Windows 95 (Magnifying Glass will be run in the primary display only)
- On multiple-display systems, the magnifying glass may not display at the correct location if the monitors have a vertical offset between them.
Latest Features:
- New, much improved dynamic mode for Windows 2000+! No longer requires DirectX or a special video card.
- New, improved Mac OS X version, much smaller, no longer requires Qt.
- Show the center pixel's RGB values, in both decimal and hexadecimal. Copy it with Ctrl+C
- Multi-monitor support
- Lens height and width can have any size
- Mouse scroll-wheel now controls zoom factor
- Esc key closes magnifier window, but it remains on systray. Q key closes the software
- Variable scale factor from 1x to 32x
- New configuration dialog to choose the plugin, Hotkey and other settings
Two actual screenshots:
Resources

,
Punto Informatico, l'evoluzione della rete
InContrast: A website specifically for people who use a high contrast color scheme on their Windows desktop.
InContrast helps users of high contrast color schemes identify software that will handle these color schemes. At present it is the only website on the Internet that seeks to offer this information.
Braille Virtual. Braille Virtual is a on-line opencourse based on motion graphics and planned to teach Braille to those who can see. It is specially oriented for parents, children and teachers.
MouseVision, Inc.: Electronic magnifier solutions for people with low vision, including
Zoom-Ex the tiny, lightweight accessory that converts your computer into a powerful magnifier.
Introduction
| Download
| Getting started
| Shortcut keys
| Uninstalling
| Support
| Open source
| Donations
BETA Feature - Dynamic Mode:
- This allows the user to see the current desktop contents under the magnifier window. The user can also interact with the window under the magnifier (such as mouse, scroll wheel, keyboard, etc...). Use the following keys to move the glass while in dynamic mode:
- IMPORTANT: If you are using Windows Vista or superior you need to make sure that Aero is OFF before using the Dynamic Mode. This is very easy, just go to the "Start Menu" and select "Run" and then type:
Rundll32 dwmApi #104
To turn it ON again run the following command: Rundll32 dwmApi #102
Ctrl + Alt + Arrow Up Ctrl + Alt + W
| Moves the len up
|
Ctrl + Alt + Arrow Down Ctrl + Alt + S
| Moves the len down
|
Ctrl + Alt + Arrow Right Ctrl + Alt + D
| Moves the len right
|
Ctrl + Alt + Arrow Left Ctrl + Alt + A
| Moves the len left
|
Upcoming Features:
Introduction
| Download
| Getting started
| Shortcut keys
| Uninstalling
| Support
| Open source
| Donations
Under Windows®, Magnifying Glass can be started from its own icon like any other program. On Unixes (Linux or FreeBSD) you can start the magnifier by opening a console window and typing "vmg" without the quotes.
The program shows a magnifying glass lens that follows the mouse movement.
You can move the lens around the screen to view magnification of any screen area.
To close the lens, click the left mouse button.
Virtual Magnifying Glass also adds it's own system tray icon. Left-click on the icon offers
a shortcut for launching the lens again.
Right-click the Magnifying Glass system tray icon to open the Magnifying Glass menu for various customization options.
Introduction
| Download
| Getting started
| Shortcut keys
| Uninstalling
| Support
| Open source
| Donations
The following keyboard shortcuts are available when the lens is active:
[ ENTER ] or [ ESC ]
| Hides the magnifier window
|
[ Q ]
| Exits the software
|
[ Up arrow ]
| Increase the lens height
|
[ Down arrow ]
| Decrease the lens height
|
[ Right arrow ]
| Increase the lens width
|
[ Left arrow ]
| Decrease the lens width
|
[ W ]
| Moves the len up
|
[ S ]
| Moves the len down
|
[ D ]
| Moves the len right
|
[ A ]
| Moves the len left
|
[ PageUp ]
| Moves the len up in big steps
|
[ PageDown ]
| Moves the len down in big steps
|
[ B ]
| Activates and Deactivates the graphical border
|
[ MOUSE WHELL UP ]
| Increase the magnification in small steps
|
[ MOUSE WHELL DOWN ]
| Decrease the magnification in small steps
|
[ + ]
| Increase the magnification in small steps
|
[ - ]
| Decrease the magnification in small steps
|
To set up a shortcut key for launching the Magnifying Glass on Windows® do the following
(note: this may not work on all versions of Microsoft® Windows®):
- Go from the Start Menu to the Magnifying Glass sub-menu (the place where you would normally start the Magnifier)
- Right-click the system tray item of the Magnifying Glass
- Check the option "Hot Key Invoke"
- You can now use Ctrl+Alt+E to launch the magnifier
Introduction
| Download
| Getting started
| Shortcut keys
| Uninstalling
| Support
| Open source
| Donations
On Windows:
If you ever decide to uninstall Magnifying Glass it is important to
terminate the program first if it is still running. To do this,
- Right-click the Magnifying Glass taskbar icon.

- Select Exit from the pop-up menu that appears
The Magnifying Glass taskbar icon disappears and it is safe to go to the Magnifying Glass sub-menu from
the Start Menu and choose Uninstall Magnifying Glass.
On Linux or FreeBSD:
Depending on how you install the magnifier, there are different ways to uninstall it.
- If you installed from a .tar package, open a terminal, change user to root and execute the "uninstall.sh" script issuing the "./uninstall.sh" command. The script can be found on the same directory as the script utilized to install the software, the folder created when you unpackage the magnifier3_beta.tar.gz file.
- If you installed from a RPM package, open a terminal, change user to root and execute the commdn "rpm -e magnifier"
Introduction
| Download
| Getting started
| Shortcut keys
| Uninstalling
| Support
| Open source
| Donations
This is not commercial software and there is no customer support.
In case you received Magnifying Glass as part of a commercial software
distribution, please turn to the provider of that distribution for
customer support. Note that this web site functions as the
user manual for the program, so the answer to your question may be found on this page.
~ Feedback and bug reports are appreciated! ~
You can use the Magnifying Glass
project site at SourceForge to post bug reports and log feature requests.
To contact the author(s) directly try csodonnell at users.sourceforge.net
Introduction
| Download
| Getting started
| Shortcut keys
| Uninstalling
| Support
| Open source
| Donations
Virtual Magnifying Glass is open source software.
You are encouraged to carry on the development of this software.
Visit the Magnifying Glass
project site at SourceForge
for further
details and source code download.
Drop some email to the administrators of the project
if you have made some modifications/improvements you would
like to get integrated and released with full credts to you.
To work with the Magnifier you need either Lazarus, an open source RAD IDE, or Borland Delphi and some Pascal and a little Delphi VCL knowledge.
Knowing Win32 API and GTK+ 2 is also usefull.
To write plugins for the magnifier (such as the one that gives dynamic mode support), you will need some Win32 API and DirectX knowledges. Any language capable of writing DLLs under Windows should be enougth.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/magnifier
Introduction
| Download
| Getting started
| Shortcut keys
| Uninstalling
| Support
| Open source
| Donations
The Virtual Magnifying Glass project is now accepting donations.
We have a mission of offering the best magnification tool possible for everyone, but some difficulties like the lack of adequate hardware and developers is holding the progress of the Dynamic Mode. So we launched this donations initiative to ask users to help us finally get this implemented.
Our initial target is receiving 500 Euros, which will be used to support the current developers in the development of this project.
As a bonus, the user may also specify a particular bug or feature request when donating, and we will try to get it included on our next release.
You can donate to this PayPal account:
felipemonteiro.carvalho at gmail.com
Current progress: 21% or 106 € from 500 €
If another donation method is prefered, such as bank transfer, please contact us. Thank you very much.
License
By downloading and/or using Virtual Magnifying Glass and/or the source code you acknowledge that you have read the license agreement below, understood it, and agree to be bound by it's terms and conditions. You also agree that the license agreement is the complete and exclusive statement of agreement between the parties and supersede all proposals or prior agreements, oral or written, and any other communication between the parties relating to the subject of the license agreement of Virtual Magnifying Glass.
http://magnifier.sourceforge.net
Copyright © 1999 - 2010 Harri Pyy (Finland), Chris O'Donnell, Felipe Monteiro de Carvalho.
Windows is registered trademark of Microsoft Corp.
GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 Free Software Foundation, Inc.