Poor font rendering in Windows 8 (blurry text)

I concur with Tzon's post.

I have a "generic" Windows 8 64-bit laptop (specifically - Lenovo Z580 core i5 with 1366 x 768 display and Intel HD4000 graphics). Font fuzziness problem is prominent here and prescribed solutions do not work. However, a similarly configured old Lenovo with Vista OS laptop fonts are crisp. When I attach the new Win-8 Lenovo to an external HD monitor, fonts are MUCH better but not as crisp as when I attach my old Vista OS machine to the same external monitor.

Several postings in this forum seem to arrive at similar findings. Based on these observations, it is hard to infer anything but that all this points to a problem with Windows 8 display sub-system.

Windows Display group please note!

Tzon's posting below

It seems this issue does not affect all users. I'm not sure which systems are affected and which not. It would be interesting to find out. My family has three PCs, two desktops and a laptop, all of them running Windows 8 with the latest updates. And all of the three PCs have the same font rendering problem on IE10. Maybe it's because they are connected with analog cables (VGA) to their monitors, maybe it's because they don't have state-of-the-art graphics cards which do not support DirectX 11. Whatever the reason may be, a lot of people are reporting the same problem so it's a real one!

 

The bigger the letters, the problem seems to vanish. So high DPI settings will make it less noticeable. My DPI setting is on default (smaller-100%).

 

The problem appears on specific "areas". Internet Explorer menus and the address bar appear perfectly sharp while some webpages awfully blur. The difference between Google Chrome and IE is also very big: sharp and smooth fonts on the first browser, blurry and fuzzy on the last (for the same webpages).

 

The cause of the mess is also known, it has to do with the new rendering technology that replaces the old classic Clear type which is pushed away because it's not compatible with tablets. Seehere for more details about the rendering methods. In any case, users with older hardware should be able to enjoy a smooth experience with their new OS without such kind of problems. Since Microsoft is selling its operating system as compatible with our PCs they must find soon a solution to the problem.

try this step. Go to control panel > display > adjust ClearType Text . Make Sure you turn on Clear type and just finish the wizard.

I believe it's much simpler than anything having to do with "Windows 8 display sub-system": we just need the ability to display fonts without the anti-aliasing effect like programs well-designed allow us to do. It was possible with IE 9 via an unofficial dll tweak and it worked quite well but it doesn't work with IE 10 anymore. Maybe someone will come up with the same type of solution adapted to IE 10 in the future.

This has nothing to do (unfortunately) with ClearType. Use the linkswithin the comments to view more details.

I just built a new PC with Windows 8 and was surprised to find some of my fonts blurry. I read most of the discussion but thought I would add some of my detail that I didn't come across.

First up I am using all new generation everything.. this is a top end custom PC with NVidia GTX 670 and Win 8 Pro installed. I run 3 screens with my primary being a 24" Dell, followed by a 20" Dell, and a third Dell on the end.  All screens running at native resolution.  All drivers current and I've even tried backing out the NVidia driver to 307 that came with the card.

I've tried enabling and disabling just about all video settings with no improvement. I've done the calibration for Clear Type.

All non-metro apps are running fine in general, however IE10 definitely shows the font issue.

The primary example demonstrating the issue on my machine is the Microsoft Store.

To clarify this issue I should mention I have run all beta versions of Windows 8 on my old PC with no issues and I have a SurfaceRT so I am very familiar with what the Store should look like.

The Store screen, when first launched,  has category text above each grid group. If there are updates it shows how many are waiting in the upper right corner. My PC is not showing the category text or the update text at all. I know it is there and can click on it... but no, it's not visible.

When I do go into a category and get the larger grid with more icons and smaller text the text is so blurry as to be almost non-legible. The interesting part is that moving my mouse over text will clarify it, at least temporarily. This works on both the Store launch screen and inside category for blurry text. Moving over one bit of text will clarify it but will also cause previously clear text to turn blurry. Hovering over category words and the update text area does not work to make it appear. This same issue is prevalent on all 3 screens.

I don't use metro apps much so have not tested this extensively with others. However, every one I have tested it having this issue. This issue essentially means I don't want to use metro apps and can't recommend Win 8 to friends/family until this gets fixed. If I find a fix that is not already posted I'll update.