Blurry Text in Windows 8

Anonymous
2012-10-27T01:27:12+00:00

I did a clean install of Windows 8 RTM when it became available.

The blurry font rendering that plagued the Preview versions has remained.

It is particularly bad in IE10 and Office 2013.

No amount of adjustment with Clear Type tuner helps much.

I have tried all the fixes recommended like ticking "use Software rendering instead of GPU rendering" in IE10 and in Options in Office 2013.

It makes absolutely no difference.

I installed Windows 8 on completely different hardware to check if it was a graphics card issue. The poor font rendering was still there.

I am currently dual booting Windows 7 and 8 on the same PC. Fonts in Windows 7 remain perfectly clear. In windows 8 they are so bad, the OS is basically unusable.

How do I get readable fonts in Windows 8?

Hardware: ASUS P8Z77-V PRO, Intel Core i7 3770K, ASUS Radeon HD7770 graphics, Samsung Syncmaster 2443BW 24 inch monitor.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Performance and system failures

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2014-10-02T13:21:40+00:00

In Chrome 37.x go to chrome://flags and disable DirectWrite. That's the first thing i did with this update.

Torsten

Was this answer helpful?

6 people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

65 additional answers

Sort by: Newest
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2013-12-18T07:18:13+00:00

    Pretty sure this is software related.

    I have Windows 7, and "upgraded" from Office 2010 to Office 2013.  In Word 2013, the fonts - particularly Times New Roman 12 pt (which is my life, I'm a lawyer) - are very poorly rendered.

    I ran the same document in Word 2010 side by side with Word 2013, and the fonts are so much smoother in Word 2010.

    Fortunately, Microsoft accepts returns of downloadable software within 30 days, so I took advantage of that.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2013-11-08T22:37:42+00:00

    I had the same problem.

    What worked for me is:

    -right click the icon of the program

    -choose solve compatabilitys issues (could be different because my windows is dutch)

    -wait until windows is done

    -choose test program

    -close program (if it is still bad)

    -choose next

    -choose try different settings

    -choose the program is opened but is not showed properly and choose next

    -choose test program

    -it might be good now

    -choose save settings

    try the wizard, it wil guide you trough different settings for the program

    good luck

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2013-09-16T04:28:20+00:00

    One thing I noticed on my surface pro was that chrome appeared to look particularly bad, while internet explore looked ok in desktop mode on Windows 8. Upon checking Control Panel > Appearance and Personalization > Display I found that the default was to magnify everything 150%. Switching to 125% made everything smaller, but much clearer. My guess is chrome was displaying things at the default aspect ration and windows was magnifying the result by increasing the size with the same resolution graphic.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2013-08-05T00:05:58+00:00

    It is not hardware related.

    I have the same problem on an ASUS and a BenQ display.

    People using laptops of various brands also have the problem.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments