Somewhere, wandering around I found a setting in my Windows XP monitor setup. Right click on the desktop and go to ‘Properties’. Choose the ‘Appearence’ tab. Click on the ‘Effects’ button. You’ll see the following screen:

Be sure that “Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts” is checked, and that the drop down list shows “ClearType”. It is like getting a new pair of bifocals.