Windows 8.1 and Inexplicable, Unsolvable Fuzzy Text

Hello all,

So, after being pestered my Microsoft for long enough I bit the bullet and updated from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 (biggest mistake ever!!!) Basically, it has turned my very expensive laptop into a piece of garbage that I don't even want to look at. Dramatic? Maybe. True? Definitely. I am so upset.

Here's the scoop - before I updated I had crystal clear graphics and font, I could stare at my laptop screen for hours writing or editing without ever having eye strain. (shh.. don't tell my eye doctor..) Right after my laptop restarted after the update I knew something was terrible wrong. My nice, crisp front was now subtly fuzzy and just not right. Perhaps someone unfamiliar with my laptop may not even notice, but for me it is big. Now, looking at my screen is a task that dries and tires my eyes. I can't stand to read anything now on it because of the strain it's putting on my eyes and the inevitable head ache to follow.

I first searched the forums (which was a task due to this awful font) and I found a few solutions. First was to make sure my graphics cards were up-to-date. They are. I actually had a graphics card issue right after I updated -- my AMD Radeon card and Catalyst Controller would not work at all. I fixed it and now they are OK; fixing them did not fix my font. Next I enabled "Let me choose one scaling level for all my displays" and that did not do the trick. I had my font set on "Larger - 150%" back in Windows 8 because my sight is poor and that made the computer easier to read, unfortunately to make the font even kind of bearable in Windows 8.1 I have had to shrink it all the way down to "Small - 100%" which is REALLY hard for me to see. My resolution is the same it's always been.

Next, I contacted Microsoft and had a remote access session. The tech could not find anything wrong.

I'm really not wanting to refresh my laptop back to Windows 8 mainly because I don't want to have to reinstall everything. With a 1 TB hard drive I have a lot of programs installed.

This is what I am running:

Inspiron 7520
Intel Core i7 @ 2.20 GHz
64-bit Windows 8.1 (YUCCCKKKKK)
AMD Radeon HD 7700M series (high performance)
Intel HD Graphics 4000 (power saving)


Let me know if you need anymore information.. Please help!


Thank you in advance.

Hi, i hate the "soft" text as well, thats fine for 20 year old kids with sharp eyes, but im 46 and i like black text not gray!
Many display problems are due to customization, lets try to reset video settings to default first and work from there.
Please go to the device manager and uninstall the video drivers let windows reinstall them, even if its only the windows default video.
Reboot and see of it is now more legible, if not then uninsall the catalyst software and reboot..

I have this problem also worse yet, it is crystal clear one minute and fuzzy the next. Ive searched the web for days and was hoping to find a fix here. From what I have read this is a Win 8.1 problem and needs to be patched by Microsoft.