What does that font look like?

In Word 2000 you can see what fonts will look like right in the pull-down menu of the Formatting toolbar. Click on the downward-pointing arrow to the right of that menu -- which starts at default on most systems with Times New Roman -- and you'll see the name of each font displayed in the actual characters of that font. In Word 97 you had to dig a lot deeper to see how the fonts would actually appear.

StarOffice added this ability in version 5.2 and has retained the feature in later versions and in OpenOffice. If you haven't upgraded to the latest versions, you should because there are improvements to the import filters and many other important updates.

NewDeal's NewWrite has always had the ability to preview fonts, though not as effectively as the above feature of Word 2000 and StarOffice/OpenOffice. Click on Character. Click on Fonts and choose Font Viewer. Select a font and a small sample will be displayed at the bottom of the dialog box.

In recent versions of Windows, if you go into Control Panel/Fonts and double-click on a font, you will be shown an extensive sample. Use this to decide whether to keep the font in your Windows collection and use the word processor preview to select a font for a particular job.

Although the following procedure is specific to Windows 98, a similar procedure can be used in most other versions of Windows.

At first, fonts can be fun. After a while, though, the fun can wear thin. Fonts take up hard drive space and can cause Windows to take longer when loading. The cure to both problems is to remove those fonts you no longer use and store them outside of Windows.

• Create a Spare Fonts folder outside the Windows folder, perhaps in My Documents.

• Open the Control Panel.

• Double-click on the Fonts icon.

• Double-click on any fonts that you don't use or no longer like. (Whenever you double-click on a font, Windows lets you see what it looks like.)

• Hold down Ctrl and click on the names of all the unwanted fonts. Windows removes those fonts when you complete the next step. Don't delete fonts starting with MS, like MS Sans Serif or MS Serif. Also, don't delete any fonts with red letters in their icons as these are often used in menus.

• Cut the fonts and then paste them into the Spare Fonts folder.

• If you are really sure you want to get rid of them altogether, right-click on them and choose Delete. If you've deleted the wrong font, you can recover it from the Recycle Bin, provided you act before the bin is emptied.

Note: If you have a CD-ROM burner, make a copy of all the fonts in your Font folder on a CD disc before you delete any of them. Then, if you need a particular font again, you can easily reinstall it without having to track down the original source.