I would like to completely disable all font smoothing, anti-aliasing, etc... on Windows 7. I find it difficult to read and it gives me a headache. Here's what I've tried so far: Switched to Windows 7 Basic theme. (No Aero.) Run the ClearType tuner. (It didn't help. I want to remove font smoothing, not tweak it.) Disabled ClearType altogether. (Taskbar, menus, etc... remain smoothed/anti-aliased). Unchecked "Smooth edges of screens fonts" from Performance -> Visual Effects. (Taskbar fonts, help, control panel, etc... remain smoothed). Changed all my fonts to Tahoma under Personalize -> Windows Color Using regedit, added "Tahoma" as the first option under HKLM->Software->Microsoft->Windows NT->Current Version->FontSubstitutes Deleted all Segoe fonts from /Windows/Fonts (Had to take ownership to do so) Deleted nearly all extraneous fonts from /Windows/Fonts (I was getting frustrated...) Tried playing with HKCU->Control Panel->Desktop-> FontSmoothingType (both 1 and 0) and FontSmoothing (both 1 and 0). Tried running my laptop at a non-native resolution (Makes it even worse) The above steps removed most font smoothing, though the taskbar, dialogue boxes, control panel, etc... remain smoothed/anti-aliased. So far, the only way I've found to completely disable any smoothing is to switch to Classic mode, which has the unfortunate effect of removing any visual styles whatsoever. In short, I want Win7 fonts to render in a binary/completely pixelated fashion, with no gray fuzziness or subpixel rendering. Please help!

I'm afraid they read it but always ignored it. Many users don't address this to MS, so from MS point of view, there are no complaints about. I'm almost happy with all settings within Windows but nothing works for Office 2007! I got all menus fixed, but the documents still show the blurry sh*t, although I turned off everywhere else. I think it is time to start using OpenOffice instead. More concerns me that other software vendors start using this fu**ing sh*t also!! The best would be to have a low level driver which simply replaces everything cleartype related an app is requesting. I would pay for such a tool at least $100.

does anyone from MS read the complaints about smeartype? this is the best post so far on how to (almost) kill it.

Try MS Sans Serif. Solved problem for me. If you are not satisfied with result you can set Tahoma back again. Tahoma was blurry in many dialog boxes. 10x that did fix the smoothing in all texts ... but it made the calendar (gadget) look horrible ... also do other big texts like "Welcome" "Logging off" and so. I guess at the moment there is no better solution. I really miss my old XP "Standard" font smoothing. It simply worked !!! I suppose we need a font that is not "smoothed"/aliased in sizes between 6 and 10 and smoothed in the rest. Is this possible at all?

Guys, thank you very much for lining this out. I can work without headaches, that's REALLY great! Here some keywords, so that others can find the definite solution to get rid of the big ClearType problem in Windows 7 once and forever with just a little hack that everyone can do ;-)...

Disable all font smoothing in Windows 7 (ie: including taskbar, menus, control panel, etc...)

Anonymous

I would like to completely disable all font smoothing, anti-aliasing, etc... on Windows 7. I find it difficult to read and it gives me a headache.

Here's what I've tried so far:

Switched to Windows 7 Basic theme. (No Aero.)
Run the ClearType tuner. (It didn't help. I want to remove font smoothing, not tweak it.)
Disabled ClearType altogether. (Taskbar, menus, etc... remain smoothed/anti-aliased).
Unchecked "Smooth edges of screens fonts" from Performance -> Visual Effects. (Taskbar fonts, help, control panel, etc... remain smoothed).
Changed all my fonts to Tahoma under Personalize -> Windows Color
Using regedit, added "Tahoma" as the first option under HKLM->Software->Microsoft->Windows NT->Current Version->FontSubstitutes
Deleted all Segoe fonts from /Windows/Fonts (Had to take ownership to do so)
Deleted nearly all extraneous fonts from /Windows/Fonts (I was getting frustrated...)
Tried playing with HKCU->Control Panel->Desktop-> FontSmoothingType (both 1 and 0) and FontSmoothing (both 1 and 0).
Tried running my laptop at a non-native resolution (Makes it even worse)

The above steps removed most font smoothing, though the taskbar, dialogue boxes, control panel, etc... remain smoothed/anti-aliased. So far, the only way I've found to completely disable any smoothing is to switch to Classic mode, which has the unfortunate effect of removing any visual styles whatsoever. In short, I want Win7 fonts to render in a binary/completely pixelated fashion, with no gray fuzziness or subpixel rendering.

Please help!

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Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

Hi Ken,

Hopefully the Win 7 typography team will make this "feature" optional by SP1. I'm holding out until then. But if you insist on using 7 before the font smoothing is fixed, here's how to deal with registry font substitutes and UAC/system protection.

Edit the registry settings under FontSubstitutes so that "Tahoma" appears before Segoe in any FontSubstitute settings. Then, take ownership of the Windows directory (I took ownership of all subdirectories and files, which might be excessive, but made other tweaking easier to deal with) to delete Segoe. To take ownership, right click on the Windows system folder, select "Properties", click on Security, Advanced, then clik on Owner in Advanced security settings... Click on the edit button and change owner to your own account . Make certain "Replace owner on subcontainer..." is checked.

It's overkill, but will get it done.

R5N

P.S. If anyone does figure out how to remove font smoothing from the Win 7 taskbar, I will praise you for all of time.

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44 additional answers

Anonymous

2009-12-30T23:58:58+00:00

I'm afraid they read it but always ignored it. Many users don't address this to MS, so from MS point of view, there are no complaints about.

I'm almost happy with all settings within Windows but nothing works for Office 2007! I got all menus fixed, but the documents still show the blurry sh*t, although I turned off everywhere else.

I think it is time to start using OpenOffice instead.

More concerns me that other software vendors start using this fu**ing sh*t also!!

The best would be to have a low level driver which simply replaces everything cleartype related an app is requesting. I would pay for such a tool at least $100.
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Anonymous

2009-11-19T17:57:47+00:00

does anyone from MS read the complaints about smeartype?

this is the best post so far on how to (almost) kill it.
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Anonymous

2009-11-19T01:05:21+00:00

Try MS Sans Serif. Solved problem for me. If you are not satisfied with result you can set Tahoma back again. Tahoma was blurry in many dialog boxes.

10x

that did fix the smoothing in all texts ... but it made the calendar (gadget) look horrible ... also do other big texts like "Welcome" "Logging off" and so.

I guess at the moment there is no better solution.

I really miss my old XP "Standard" font smoothing. It simply worked !!!

I suppose we need a font that is not "smoothed"/aliased in sizes between 6 and 10 and smoothed in the rest. Is this possible at all?
Was this answer helpful?

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Anonymous

2009-11-15T23:18:15+00:00

Guys, thank you very much for lining this out. I can work without headaches, that's REALLY great! Here some keywords, so that others can find the definite solution to get rid of the big ClearType problem in Windows 7 once and forever with just a little hack that everyone can do ;-)...
Was this answer helpful?

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