Standard Fonts for Windows
Windows 7 comes with dozens of fonts preinstalled. Your computer might have even more if you're using the Microsoft Office Suite or other software that comes with custom fonts. Fonts in Windows have been designed especially for their task -- every default font from the the basic interface to PowerPoint has been built exactly for that job. In addition to standard fonts, Microsoft also has a list of the most popular fonts and the Web core fonts available.
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Default Font
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The default font for Windows 7 interface is Segoe UI. Segoe is a clean sans serif font that was specifically designed by Microsoft for the Windows interface. Office 2010 products use the sans-serif Calibri as a default font, replacing both Times New Roman in Word and Arial in the other software. You can change default fonts at any time.
Most Popular Fonts
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Microsoft defines 19 fonts as the popular fonts used in Microsoft products. These fonts include the script or stylistic fonts Curlz MT, Lucida Calligraphy Italic, Lucida Handwriting Italic, Old English Text and Palace Script. Sans serif fonts include Gill Sans, Calibri, Arial, Abadi MT Condensed, Twentieth Century, News Gothic Regular and Candara. Serif fonts include Times New Roman, Cambria, Rockwell and Bodoni Regular.
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Web Core Fonts
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While Microsoft's Core Fonts project is no longer active, the fonts are still popular and well-used around the Internet. This list includes the serif fonts Times New Roman, Courier New, Georgia and Adobe Minion Web. Sans serif fonts are by far more popular for websites, and more were included herein: Verdana, Trebuchet MS, Impact, Comic Sans, Arial, Arial Black, and Andale Mono.
Types of Fonts
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There are two major font types for Windows: ClearType fonts and OpenType fonts. ClearType fonts have an increased resolution and clarity, especially on LCD screens. Instead of words appearing jagged around the edges, fonts are rendered more smoothly. This is especially useful in fonts that have a lot of curves and nuance, though all fonts benefit from ClearType's increased clarity. ClearType has been in use since Windows XP. The other type of font is OpenType, a standard developed jointly by Adobe and Microsoft as an alternative to Truetype (an outline font standard originally developed by Apple in the late 1980s). OpenType has the benefit of containing more characters, making it good for storing multiple languages and letter variants. It's also compatible with both Windows and Mac computers.
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