ClearType font rendering in Windows adds a nice shadow to screen fonts. You may notice your desktop fonts have (or don’t have) this shadow:
No ClearType:
With ClearType:
If you want to enable or disable it, go to Display Properties > Appearance.
Then click the Effects button and choose your option under the second drop-down menu.
I love the cleartype idea. However, I hate the shadow under the desktop icon letters and most cleartype fonts are awfull. Take for instance candara with it’s stupidly small numbers 0 to 9