The use of the font "Impact" is almost a taboo among graphic / layout designers. Perhaps you may wish to go more a rather user-friendly font such as Lucida Sans.
"Arial" may do as well, however, reduce the spacing between each alphabets, or stretch the fontface, or both. That should work. (These are basic fonts preinstalled in most XP system, I presume that you do not do any fontshopping.)
Do not use emboss or border unnecessary, it makes your typography look unprofessional. (Although that may not always be the case.) It always good to be bold in positioning your titles, as long as its pleasing to the eye.
An example of Arial and Lucida Sans used
http://www.slivester.tk.