this post was submitted on 20 May 2026
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Figured someone on here might know or know how to fins out.

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[–] Windex007@lemmy.world 5 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 1 hour ago) (1 children)

That "y" in "away" is pretty distinct. If this is the font you're thinking of, I am pretty sure it's Segoe... it's for SURE not Tahoma or Veranda. Neither of those fonts flatten the bottom tail of the y. Segoe does.

Edit:

Arial has it too, but based on the "s", I still think Segoe. If you draw a tip-to-tip line on the s, it's a greater angle off horizontal in segoe than Arial, and seems to my naked eye to better match the s in that screenshot.

[–] 4am@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 hour ago

Microsoft was all about Segoe for a while, you are probably right

[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca 16 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

I think it just used the system UI font, so probably Segoe UI, which was pretty new at the time and Microsoft loved to use it.

(Specifically on Windows Vista and later. On Windows XP, it would still have been Tahoma.)

If it used the default document font for the chat window (which is likely), then it would be Arial in Windows XP, and either Segoe UI or Calibri in Vista and later.

Source: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/uxguide/vis-fonts

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 5 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

Verdana? Tahoma? Arial? 🤔

One of those, I'm pretty sure. It definitely was a sans serif style font, and those 3 have been the most common defaults since before that time.

Edit: According to Microsoft's knowledge base: it was Calibri. It has used Segoe since 2012.

[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Do you have a link. IIRC, Calibri was mostly used as a document font, not a UI font.

Found it: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/uxguide/vis-fonts

[–] hexagonwin@lemmy.today 3 points 4 hours ago

it might depend on the os you used back then (XP or Vista), but probably the other commenter's (ai) response is correct

[–] Canconda@lemmy.ca 3 points 5 hours ago (2 children)
[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca 5 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

The likelihood of this being the correct answer is very small. By 2007, MS San Serif had been replaced by Tahoma, and then Tahoma had been replaced by Segoe UI. So MS San Serif hadn’t been used prominently by Microsoft for almost a decade.

It is possible since MSN Messenger was released in 1999, so before MS switched to using Tahoma as their default font, but I highly doubt MSN Messenger didn’t use the system’s default font, and I even more highly doubt that if they didn’t use the default font, that they didn’t update their font for almost a decade.

[–] Canconda@lemmy.ca -1 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

by 2007 NOBODY was using msn lmao

[–] MycelialMass@lemmy.world 1 points 1 hour ago

My wife and I were when we first met and had long distance thing going on.

[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca 5 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

OP specifically asked about MSN Messenger around 2007-2010.

[–] MycelialMass@lemmy.world 2 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

That was fast! Do you just know that or is there source? Also thanks!

[–] Canconda@lemmy.ca -2 points 5 hours ago (3 children)

tbh i googled it and got an ai response. But like you could change the font anyways. Pretty sure I used comic sans

[–] Sandbar_Trekker@lemmy.today 3 points 2 hours ago

Sometimes those responses can be helpful, but there's usually a link to whatever page that it sourced some of the info from. I would strongly recommend that you get in the habit of clicking that link just to double check.

[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca 5 points 3 hours ago

Please do not trust AI responses. They are often wrong, as explicitly stated next to the response.

[–] JohnnyCanuck@lemmy.ca 2 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

If the other one is a guess, Tahoma is another strong possibility.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 0 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

Back then, not so much. Back then it was either MS Sans Serif or Arial.

[–] hperrin@lemmy.ca 1 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

It very much was not. Arial has never been a default UI font on Windows, and MS Sans Serif was replaced by Tahoma as the default in 2001. Arial has been a default document font though, so it could have been Arial.