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I normally use Arial or Times New Roman as default fonts for Microsoft Word and other text-based programs (e.g., pagemaker). I wonder why NotePad and TextPad usd Courier as the default font. There must be a serious reasoning. Please enlighten me. James

I can think of two reasons:
1. Wide presence on most systems
2. It's Monospaced

Plain text editors, such as TextPad and Notepad, are more frequently used for editing program source files and configuration files, rather than for presentation, which is the forte of word processors. Such files often use tabs, for alignment to particular columns, and that only works with monospaced fonts. Courier is guaranteed to be present on all versions of Windows, so that is a good default to use.

Keith MacDonald
Helios Software Solutions

I leave my printer output on Courier (new?), but like to set my display font to fixedsys, which again, is monospaced. It has a nice smooth, uncluttered look.