You can use nearly any paint program to create this effect. This tutorial gives instructions for Photoshop or Paint Shop Pro.

1. Select the color you want to use for the glow, and create the type using the type tool. Make sure that the anti-aliasing checkbox is selected.

2. Deselect the text.
In Photoshop 3, use Control+D on Windows, Command+D on the Mac.
In Photoshop 4, uncheck the Preserve Transparency Checkbox on the Layer Palette by using the keyboard shortcut / .
In Paintshop Pro, apply Select/None, or use Shift+N.

To blur the type and create the glowing effect with Photoshop, use the Filter/Blur/Gaussian Blur filter, and with PaintShop Pro use the Image/Normal Filters/Blur More filter.

3. Recreate the type. You can create different effects by creating the type with the background color or using the glow color.

Be sure to experiment with different colors and typefaces. This effect, of course, will also work with symbol typefaces.