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
    2013-03-27T01:28:01+00:00

    THIS IS AWFUL

    Found this Thread whilst looking for a solution to this exact problem on Windows 7-64.

    I have updates setup, so Win 7-64 is obviously now damaged by these changes.

    Graphics Card is ASUS EAH4350 to which I've loaded the latest version of the AMD Driver direct from there website.

    It shows on Firefox, Chrome and IE9.

    Planning to do a clean install Of Windows 7 Ultimate 64, then load Service Pack 1  to see if thats OK, its a lot of hassle, but the picture quality is just unusable, particularly as I ware BiFocals.

    I'll leave Updates off from now on. Machine was fine until quite recently, so suspect it one of the many updates that has caused the problem.

    I've been a loyal Microsoft customer since the DOS days, and had every version of Windows upto Windows 7, together with every Office up to Office 2010 Professional.

    But it looks like my old mothers adage of an APPLE a day keeps the Doctor away was correct after all.

    I'll reluctantly be calling in to the Apple Store next, particulary as our IPad is so Good>    

    Bob

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2013-02-27T14:42:25+00:00

    Thanks John, clicked Me too. I am not too optimistic they'll fix it though, I expect an approach similar to "we will not bring back the start menu/button, ever".  Here's hoping though, your post is a good move.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2013-02-27T14:00:04+00:00

    In order to attract Microsoft's attention, I've made a new post containing links to all previously posted threads about the same matter (blurriness - fuzziness  - bad font rendering in Windows 8).

    If you would like to help, please click "Me too" for having the same problem on my post and/or other users' posts I've gathered all in one place. I have already clicked "Me too" on all posts that refer to the same matter.

    Here is the link to my post:

    http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-performance/poor-font-rendering-in-windows-8-blurry-text/f52a2002-d748-485c-8b9c-4862806ea94a?page=1

    Thanks,

    John

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2013-02-01T23:17:08+00:00

    great post!! Finally we have a clean vision on this annoying/primary issue.

    I hope MS will release an hidden option in the settings to activate ClearType on Modern UI

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments