How to Change the Font Size in Windows Live Mail 2011

Reader da6151 (that's a funny name) is running Windows Live Mail (the 2011 version, I'm assuming) in Windows 7. That's Microsoft's free e-mail client, and it also happens to be the one my wife uses.

But da6151 has a problem: the default font for reading messages is too small. "My senior eyes have a hard time reading it," he says,"unless I copy [the text] to Word where I can select the Font size."

This is a known issue, one that many others have encountered. There's even some evidence that it was caused by Internet Explorer 9, which is the kind of thing that makes me smack my forehead and consider, however briefly, ditching my Windows PC for a Mac.

There are font-size settings in Windows Live Mail, but they don't seem to do any good--not for reading e-mail. If you click the blue Menu button in the upper-right corner, then Options, Mail, Read, Fonts, you'll see a Font Size selector. On my system, bumping it to Larger or Largest made absolutely no difference in the visible font size--and other users have reported the same thing. (Come on, Microsoft, really?)