Windows 10: fonts in some applications are fuzzy. Why, and how do I fix?

Forums › Microsoft Windows › Windows 10: fonts in some applications are fuzzy. Why, and how do I fix?

Satch

1985 posts

Uber Geek

#179458 9-Sep-2015 11:57

Hi,

I'm just setting up a new laptop for my girlfriend and it came with Windows 10 Home installed. For some reason the fonts in some programs are quite fuzzy and are nowhere near as sharp as the fonts showing in Windows itself.

Fuzziness is experienced on both the laptop screen as well as an external monitor, yet both are set to their native resolutions.

Has anyone come across a system wide fix for this (assuming the issue is not confined to just me)?

Dairyxox

1594 posts

Uber Geek

#1383336 9-Sep-2015 12:05

Its the font scaling, must be set to something 'odd' from the factory.
Go to control panel, system, display...

Adjust the slider labelled "Change the size of text...." to 100% (far left?)

That should do the trick.

Incidentally, what is the native screen resolution, and physical size of the laptops display?

Satch

1985 posts

Uber Geek

#1383379 9-Sep-2015 12:52

Hi,

100% didn't work sorry.

The laptop screen is 14" at 1920 x 1080

Dairyxox

1594 posts

Uber Geek

#1383382 9-Sep-2015 12:57

Hrm. OK Try...
Go to control panel, system, display, advanced display settings, advanced sizing of text & other items, set a custom scaling level

and set that to 100%

Dairyxox

1594 posts

Uber Geek

#1383385 9-Sep-2015 13:02

Welcome to the use of HiDPI screens...you probably will never have a fully pleasant experience until another operating system comes out that fixes this stuff, OR all your apps are coded to be DPI aware.

Even if you get rid of the blurry-ness of legacy applications you will then have to contend with tiny text on a small screen.

New applications that are DPI aware should appear clear & fine, its legacy applications that are not DPI aware that this blurry scaling is applied to.

IMHO. HiDPI displays like what your girlfriend has are not ready for the prime time yet. Its a shame when the display is so nice, but your apps cant work with it nicely.

macuser

2120 posts

Uber Geek

#1383386 9-Sep-2015 13:05

What youre probably experiencing is appications that don't have scaling capability, and they're simply mutiplied pixel by pixel to reach your required scaling setting.

If they are not fuzzy when you've set 'change size of text, apps apps and other items' to 100% then it is correct that they are not using the right scaling method. Try update to a newer version, or ask the developer to update to support windows scaling.

Remember, between each sizing change you need to log out of your account, otherwise the setting won't be correctly applied

Dairyxox

1594 posts

Uber Geek

#1384719 10-Sep-2015 08:16

Did you get it working right?

Dairyxox

1594 posts

Uber Geek

#1386643 13-Sep-2015 14:56

Really frustrating trying to help when OP abandons thread.

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Ragnor

8220 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#1388057 15-Sep-2015 17:48

Dairyxox: Welcome to the use of HiDPI screens..

He said it's 1080p on a 14", that isn't that high (~150PPI).. laptops with ~13-14" screens have been coming out with 1080p screens for ages.

Dairyxox

1594 posts

Uber Geek

#1388415 16-Sep-2015 10:11

Ragnor:
Dairyxox: Welcome to the use of HiDPI screens..

He said it's 1080p on a 14", that isn't that high (~150PPI).. laptops with ~13-14" screens have been coming out with 1080p screens for ages.

Yes you're right. Its still high enough that the manufacturer has altered the scaling out of the box, yet it's low enough that the scaled legacy stuff appears blocky.
This probably wouldn't be as much of an issue on a surface pro. The screen is that much smaller/denser that the blocky legacy items would barely be noticeable in normal use on the built in screen.

Dreal

417 posts

Ultimate Geek

#1388771 17-Sep-2015 00:21

This is a reasonable common issue with Windows 10 IMO. Some fonts use ClearType, or native fonts, others use older DPI scaling. It's an issue I think. Windows needs a font override, because some of those fonts are ugly.

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Satch

1985 posts

Uber Geek

#1391132 21-Sep-2015 12:26

Dairyxox: Really frustrating trying to help when OP abandons thread.

Yes I agree with you that it is very frustrating when you don't hear back from the OP. Apologies for this but I have been away for a couple of weeks, and have only just had a chance to get back onto GZ.

I have found a utility which overcomes this issue (for now until MS decide whether or not to address it themselves) here http://windows10_dpi_blurry_fix.xpexplorer.com/

I haven't had a chance to do much more with it though as I've just discovered that the Lenovo X1 Carbon gen3 that I purchased for my girlfriend doesn't want to work with the Onelink Dock Pro I also purchased with it. The laptop will only boot into Windows 10 when it is not connected to the dock for some strange reason. I have updated the laptop BIOS, and the dock's drivers and firmware but this doesn't help. Last thing to try as advised by Lenovo support is to update the graphics drivers. If this doesn't work then I might have to get the dock replaced. Until this is sorted I won't be able to do much more with the fuzzy fonts issue.

Thanks for your help and suggestions though.