I am struggling with the widely discussed problem of blurry text in Windows 8.1. I have made countless adjustments to monitor settings, display settings, video card settings, ClearType settings, color schemes, altered FONTSMOOTHINGGAMMA registry value, used various calibration programs, enabled and disabled ClearType, enabled and disabled that high DPI thing, and re-checked several times that all the relevant drivers are up to date. It's all useless. Working with Windows 8.1 is still sheer murder on the eyes.
I would have certainly begun to question my eyesight or possibly even sanity, if it wasn't for the fact that I have two computers turned on simultaneously, one with Windows XP and one with Windows 8.1. I am using one monitor, unplugging it from one computer and plugging it into the other whenever I want to switch from one computer to another. I am looking at the exact same document with the exact same version of Word, and under Windows XP the text is comfortable to read and I can write for hours without problems, and under Windows 8.1 I feel my eyes getting tired within minutes.
It must have something to do with the way fonts are displayed under Windows 8.1. Look at the font Times, for instance. Under Windows 8.1, the comma looks just a little more than the period, and the period looks just a little more than nothing. Under Windows XP, the period looks like a proper period and the comma looks like a proper comma.
The difference is even more striking with Total Commander (file explorer software, a Windows Explorer substitute). Under Windows 8.1 I went as far as increasing the font size, but the text is still so blurry that the letters are difficult to tell apart unless I get closer to the screen.
Any chance you could suggest anything I haven't tried yet that could help? I am close to uninstalling Windows 8.1 and installing Windows 7. Never mind the software support. My eyesight is much more important than possible security risks.
I would have certainly begun to question my eyesight or possibly even sanity, if it wasn't for the fact that I have two computers turned on simultaneously, one with Windows XP and one with Windows 8.1. I am using one monitor, unplugging it from one computer and plugging it into the other whenever I want to switch from one computer to another. I am looking at the exact same document with the exact same version of Word, and under Windows XP the text is comfortable to read and I can write for hours without problems, and under Windows 8.1 I feel my eyes getting tired within minutes.
It must have something to do with the way fonts are displayed under Windows 8.1. Look at the font Times, for instance. Under Windows 8.1, the comma looks just a little more than the period, and the period looks just a little more than nothing. Under Windows XP, the period looks like a proper period and the comma looks like a proper comma.
The difference is even more striking with Total Commander (file explorer software, a Windows Explorer substitute). Under Windows 8.1 I went as far as increasing the font size, but the text is still so blurry that the letters are difficult to tell apart unless I get closer to the screen.
Any chance you could suggest anything I haven't tried yet that could help? I am close to uninstalling Windows 8.1 and installing Windows 7. Never mind the software support. My eyesight is much more important than possible security risks.
My Computer
System One
-
- OS
- Windows 8.1 Pro, 64-bit
- Computer type
- PC/Desktop
- CPU
- AMD FX-8320 Eight-Core Processor, 3.50 GHz
- Motherboard
- ASRock 970M Pro3
- Memory
- 8 GB
- Graphics Card(s)
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
- Monitor(s) Displays
- DELL 1708FP
- Screen Resolution
- 1280 x 1024