CNET Editors' review
OneLoupe from programmer Nenad Hrg is a free screen magnifier. It's compact, completely portable, and very easy to use. It's great for visually impaired users, but anyone who wants to zoom in on a part of their PC screen can enjoy it.
We love seeing old-school tools that pack a lot into a miniscule download, but at 19.5KB, OneLoupe is smaller than the ReadMe files for some applications and is probably the smallest program we've tested that boasts full Windows 7 64-bit compatibility. As portable freeware, OneLoupe requires no formal installation; just click the extracted program icon and it runs. OneLoupe installs a System Tray icon; right-clicking it calls up a properties dialog with quite a few options, while a left click opens the OneLoupe magnifying window. This is a rectangular pane with small crosshairs at the center for dragging and placing it. Whatever you drag the magnifying pane over is magnified: text, images, and icons. Turning our mouse's scroll wheel fine-tuned the centering; typing 1, 2, 3, and so on zoomed in the magnification. Clicking on the magnifying pane closed it. Clicking Full Screen on the properties menu or clicking F11 while the magnifying pane is active toggles full-screen magnification that was actually quite easy to navigate around in, thanks to the centering crosshairs. We clicked F11 again, and normal operation resumed. There's a Hotkey combo to activate OneLoupe, too: L-Win+Esc. We typed it, and the magnifier appeared instantly. The Help file lists many other Hotkey combinations.
Screens are getting bigger and sharper all the time, which means the print is getting smaller and smaller as well as obscured by just having a lot more stuff in the view. OneLoupe takes up so little space that it's a wonder it functions at all, let alone as well as it does. We highly recommend it as an accessory for every Windows desktop.
Publisher's Description
From Nenad Hrg:
OneLoupe is required to view everything on the screen enlarged. The small Magnifier is always ready when you need it to view all fine details, even the small print in the I-Net to decipher. OneLoupe is very practical and user-friendly. And it is virtually no burden on the system, an installation is not required. Once placed on the desktop, it is always ready for use. It is also suitable for people with visual impairments.
What's new in this version: Version 2.55 includes small adjustments for x64 operating systems and improvements in OneLoupe.
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All versions:
4.2 starsout of 14 votes
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Current version:
4.5 starsout of 2 votes
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My rating:
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"Does what it says it will do."
Version: OneLoupe 2.55
Pros
simple
easy
worksCons
no options
no settings
no changesSummary
What you get is one magnification. One click on one click off. That's it.
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"Excellent Alternative to Windows Magnifier"
Version: OneLoupe 2.55
Pros
Easy to use.
Small footprint--uses almost no resourcesCons
Fixed width magnifier. You can get page width magnification by going full screen, but I'd prefer to just widen the magnification area with the basic "magnifying glass.
Installs with no shortcut to add to your quick launch or start menu. The OneLoupe program and settings file must be in the same directory. You cab go to that directory and create a shortcut for the program.
You cannot input either mouse or keyboard data while magnifying with OneLoupe like you can with Windows Magnifier. This is a small inconvenience since the magnified area is over your point of focus and not in a separate window.Summary
Some might question the need for this program. You can magnify web pages by using CNTRL +. Most text programs allow you the opportunity to increase text size. In addition, Windows comes with a magnifier listed in the Accessory/Accessibility programs. If this program were not this small, using infinitesimal resources, I might agree.
That said, this is a great, little program for those of us who need it. Why magnify and entire web page to read the "terms of service" usually presented in a much smaller typeface? The problem here is scrolling, if you must. You have to close the magnifier, scroll, then start the magnifier again... but that's easily done.
If you're looking at a picture and want to magnify an area to see, say, what the dog is holding in its mouth, this program will do it for you. The problem here is when it magnifies, it just fattens pixels without increasing density. That's not really a problem since all programs do that when you increase size--even most photo editors.
Overall, this is an excellent program. Even if you only need to use it rarely, there's no problem allocating a few bytes of space on your hard drive to have it available. (I boot it with windows so it's immediately available as a tray icon--with no drain on RAM or my CPU.) I highly recommend it.
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