Ok, used Winwatch. Resized the dialog window to find all the settings, and also an option to disable cleartype, which fixed the disappearing text issue. Having to do this each time to select the correct syntax and disable cleartype would be pointless, but found options to predefine settings for each type of file. e.g. if i open a .htm it now automatically applys my settings.
The only problem i've got now is that it doesnt appear to save the file extensions when creating a new file, so you have to do it manually.
Thanks cmonex