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: Oldest
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
    2014-01-31T15:05:45+00:00

    So, that's why I don't like the looks of my documents anymore. Again a bad move for desktop users by MS to make way for the stupid tablet Metro thing! 

    I whish Microsoft would decide that a tablet and a desktop are different things after all. Integration of the experience of the two is a nice idea, but not at the cost of ruining my expensive desktop computer. experience. Screw the Metro renderer without clear type! I'm just typing stuff on a big screen. I use Start8 to get my startbutton back. This dualistic world of Win 8 sucks. And I don't want my personal live forced onto on Microsoft servers.

    This was the next push in the declining sales of desktop computers. I've been pushing myself into Windows 8 / 8.1 for a while now and while at some point I thought is was an improvement, Now I'm starting to feel more and more sorry for the whole Windows 8 thing. I've heard said that the Windows 7 interface looks outdated, but I like it better than the squary boring Windows 8 interface.

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2014-02-18T13:57:52+00:00

    Hello,

    I was experiencing the same thing with Office 2013 in particularly.  But the desktop would look perfectly fine.

    It is now working correctly.

    Go to Control Panel --> Display --> Screen Resolution --> Click Make text and other items larger or smaller --> Uncheck "Let me choose one scaling level for all my displays"

    You will have to sign out for it to take effect.

    It resolved my issue so I thought I would share.

    Lynx357Mag

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2014-09-01T04:17:04+00:00

    I was experiencing the same thing with Office 2013 in particularly.  But the desktop would look perfectly fine.

    It is now working correctly.

    Go to Control Panel --> Display --> Screen Resolution --> Click Make text and other items larger or smaller --> Uncheck "Let me choose one scaling level for all my displays"

    Ironically, in my case I needed to check the "Let me choose one scaling level for all my displays" option. Once I did, all my windows went back to having regular clear, non-blurry, non-fuzzy text.

    I haven't installed Office 2013 yet (still in the process of upgrading this computer). I was seeing the issue in other windows, such as Device Manager, various Properties windows, and installer windows.

    I guess once I've installed it, I'll see whether my Office 2013 windows look fuzzy because I've turned this option on. :)

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments