Poor font rendering in Windows 8 (blurry text)

Anonymous
2013-02-24T00:17:00+00:00

Apparently there is a huge problem with **** font rendering in Windows 8. Text appears very blurry. Programs affected by the new rendering are: Internet Explorer 10, the modern interface (start screen), Office 2013 and other 3rd party applications that rely on this rendering technology. There is no way to fix this problem, unless Microsoft recognizes it.

I 've gathered links bellow that refer to the same problem to highlight its importance and display the number of users that are affected:

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-performance/windows-8-blurryfuzzy-text-and-icons-on-menu-not/ef8945ff-9920-47b2-b4ec-db1c5fbab7de

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/forum/ie10-windows_8/windows-8-fonts-in-metro-ui-and-ie-10-blurry/3c29c415-54fd-44c8-b290-1c01dd05beaf

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/forum/ie10-windows_8/font-are-blurry-in-internet-explorer-10-windows-8/95fba606-5f45-43fa-bd96-413f6d9d9ad6

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/forum/ie10-windows_8/after-upgrading-to-windows-8-pro-my-fonts-in/210e46c9-4d16-4de7-8b59-2a1b0a7c738a

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/forum/ie10-windows_8/internet-explorer-10-windows-8-font-rendering-blur/f3b33400-bb95-450c-9587-68adbf298a2f

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_cp-winapps/blurry-text-windows-8/576183c0-e5e2-4916-8283-0a193d633018

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-hardware/blurry-text-problem/d07ac513-de07-49d9-8718-7fbb6d07b634

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/forum/ie10-windows_8/windows-8-browsers-font-rendering-issue-blocky/86139808-9c3f-48d9-bfa8-61afebd5761c

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/forum/ie10_cp-windows_cp/windows-8-preview-release-blurry-font-rendering/668f454e-012f-498f-a086-b550a96d47e1

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-performance/horrible-windows-8-font-rendering/cc263629-f4c8-4653-af36-435f4e6b7d38

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_other-desktop/will-windows-8-have-better-fonts-or-at-least/ad35ce7b-45a9-44b4-83d9-aae34df8dd97

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-performance/fonts-are-suddenly-ugly-why/ba024dcc-c143-4ede-8f04-27930527c5be

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/forum/ie10_cp-windows_cp/installation-of-windows-8-cp-causes-blurred-fonts/75352b20-cb08-4312-b7f3-6c38bb5f5f0a

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-desktop/monitor-fonts-windows-8-fuzzy-and-no-longer-crisp/052e7a57-79a7-49c5-93dc-bffb01969cbd

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/forum/ie9-windows_vista/some-fonts-are-fuzzy-and-thicker-in-ie9-in/47f1846f-7817-464b-8121-d1ca02dbb71d

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-performance/blurry-text-in-windows-8/ed053d17-b525-4e09-bdbc-de91114d975c

http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_8-performance/windows-8-has-made-my-text-blurry/7e9977e0-335f-4e8b-b321-eb2d156f36c1

Microsoft MSDN/TECHNET

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/winappsuidesign/thread/4ddc57e1-de74-4044-940e-76e35a3e76b9

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-ZA/w8itprogeneral/thread/034ef255-40d5-41d5-9c58-841868326832

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/br/w8itprogeneral/thread/831ee84b-95a1-437a-b051-b7d51e13ba0f

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/w8itprogeneral/thread/d9c1ce96-58aa-401f-a5f4-1c62660077ca

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/W8ITProPreRel/thread/409d4e85-1124-4e1c-9cc0-3b2acfd519dd

External forums:

http://www.neowin.net/forum/topic/1120890-internet-explorer-10-fonts-fuzzy-in-windows-8/

http://www.eightforums.com/browsers-mail/5432-blurry-text-ie10-desktop.html

http://www.techsupportforum.com/forums/f56/blurry-website-fonts-in-ie10-675564.html

http://www.techplex.net/postst78315_Text-in-Internet-Explorer-10-and-Metro-UI-is-blurry.aspx

http://superuser.com/questions/506192/disable-cleartype-blurry-fonts-in-internet-explorer-10-on-windows-7

http://bugsort.com/computer-users/computer-unclear-type-in-internet-explorer-on-windows-8/?PHPSESSID=10368ff87086c902a678043f63e39762

and there are lots of more...

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

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  1. Anonymous
    2013-03-19T16:06:26+00:00

    I posted this forum to MS Support on twitter; they say they will investigate and get back to me. I suggest everyone does the same until we get answer/fix: @microsofthelps

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  2. Anonymous
    2016-09-23T19:49:32+00:00

    This horrible font really looks like look it has disabled the 'clear font' utility that is a microsoft utility.    Don't know why microsoft would disable their own font engine.   I haven't figured out a solution, let me know if anybody figures something out.

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  3. Anonymous
    2013-02-24T02:08:54+00:00

    I don't get it.

    1. My DPI is on high so I'm not getting a blur
    2. I have 24" screen with the res at 1920 x 1200 so everything looks different for me.
    3. I'm using mni-HDMI so most of that gets smoothed out anyway
    4. I don't have 20/20 so again everything looks different to me.

    I saw this peoples pics and I had to magnify them to 500% to notice a blur

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  4. Anonymous
    2013-02-25T04:14:43+00:00

    I have up-to-date PC gear with a new 2560x1440 monitor and the font rendering problem still persists in Windows 8.  On the same machine, Windows 7 and Office 2010 are perfectly clear. 

    It makes no difference to the font rendering if I swap from DVI to Display Port.

    I am currently using an ATI HD7770 graphics card which supports DirectX 11. Using the latest AMD Catalyst 13.1 drivers.

    I have messed about with Windows 8 since it was in beta on an older machine and had exactly the same problem from day 1.

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  5. Anonymous
    2013-02-24T03:19:33+00:00

    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.

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