Embedded IE Text Size Too Small (or Large)

Ever notice the text or font in applications that use an embedded Internet Explorer just isn’t the right size?  Either too small or large?  I’ve encountered this in a number of apps including Microsoft HTML Help Control (for .chm files), Windows Live Writer, and others.

Since I couldn’t find the answer online, I used my MS resources to track down this issue.  It warrants a blog post to help anyone else investigating this.  What’s going on here is that there is a registry key that defines the default text size for IE6 and earlier.  IE7 kept the old key for embedded browsers but uses a new one for full instances of IE.  Some apps (like Product Studio, an internal MS app) change the regkey without setting it back.  The result is that embedded browsers across your PC now look wrong, and there isn’t an easy way to fix it since embedded browsers don’t usually present a text size option.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\International\Scripts\3
Change IEFontSize to “02 00 00 00” for a Normal Font Size

 Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\International\Scripts\3]
"IEFontSize"=hex:02,00,00,00

Download the Reg Fix

 

Example of the CORRECT SIZE:

Example of TOO SMALL:

 

Example of TOO LARGE: