Everything is too small -- windows 8.1 not allow me to enlarge entire interface?

Anonymous
2013-11-28T03:29:25+00:00

I'm on a Lenovo Yoga 2 Pro and the entire interface--every app, every dialogue box, every icon, etc--is too small on this high resolution (3200x1800) screen.  The size of the mouse pointer was the only thing I could increase to an adequate size.

In Control Panel\Appearance and Personalization\Display I've specified EXTRA LARGE (200%) for all items. 

It's still too small.

Is it possible that Windows (I have 8.1) isn't keeping up with screen resolutions and I need to just wait for a Windows update?

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Accessibility

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  1. Anonymous
    2015-05-30T05:10:44+00:00

    So Microsoft......why the heck are you not solving this issue....Freakin Microsoft support told me pay $99 or $149 to fix the issue....Really? I just got my laptop today....

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  2. @CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2015-05-09T19:54:03+00:00

    Yes, the steps I suggested above in your control panel will alleviate the problem of being unable to use that dialog.  After you perform those steps, some of the UI may be a bit small to be comfortable, so you will likely want to change it, finish what you need to do, then change it back to how it was before.

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  3. Anonymous
    2015-05-09T19:47:19+00:00

    This issue is preventing me from downloading several applications.

    Below is the dialog box to enter an authorization code for an IBM stats package. Without this, it won't function and I won't be able to further science.

    I am able to highlight the teeny tiny box but it won't let me type/paste anything in. Any solution to this mighty formatting balls-up?

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  4. Anonymous
    2015-04-11T22:53:13+00:00

    Shawn,

    As much as I'm not happy with the answer, I appreciate that you now clarified the issue for me. So, thanks for that.

    I guess we all just expect PCs to operate like an appliance (like Apple products do) and an annoyance like this feels like a product defect. For this reason the silence from Microsoft is just not acceptable after a consumer shells out over a thousand dollars for a hardware and software package!

    Paul

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  5. @CmdrKeene 90,631 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2015-04-11T21:43:19+00:00

    There is no "fix" for this, it's constrained by the laws of physics and software that was built before such screens existed.  You can either blow it up and lose quality or you can leave the app looking small.  There's no other choice because anything else would require either reprogramming the app being shown or buying a new monitor with different DPI level.

    Microsoft isn't alone.  Apple had the same problem and did the same thing.  They both rebuilt all their own apps for the new hardware, and asked their developer communities to do the same.  That's why apps that haven't been rebuilt are still blurry on both Windows and Mac: they are being blown up larger to appear normal on a high-res screen.  So unless Adobe or whomever built the app takes time to build a hi-res aware software, that's going to be it.  Microsoft and Apple can't go rebuild 30 years of programs for the new high-res screens of today.

    Of course if you have a better idea for taking a small image and enlarging legacy app interface without quality degradation, you could stand to benefit a lot.

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