The following is a list of recommended changes which can be made to make Windows XP more accessible for visually impaired or blind users. This can be particularly helpful for people which are using a screen reader like JAWS.
Changes to the Start Menu
- Enabled ‘Classic Start menu’
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Disabled ‘Use Personalised Menus’
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Disabled ‘Hide inactive icons’
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Disabled ‘Group similar taskbar buttons’
Changes to Microsoft Word
- Disabled Reading Layout View
Changes to Microsoft Outlook
- Disabled ‘Navigation Pane’
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Disabled ‘Reading Pane’
Changes to Internet Explorer
- Automatic prompting for file downloads ‘enabled’
Changes to Windows Explorer
- Changed view to ‘details’
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Disabled ‘Show in Groups’ for icons
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Enabled Status bar
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Enabled ‘Use Windows classic folders’
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Disabled ‘Hide extensions for known file types’
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Changed Explorer search behaviour to ‘Advanced’