Microsoft to Fix Blurry Text Bug in Windows 8.1 RTM – Rumo

Windows 8.1 is expected to reach the RTM development stage sometime this month, while general availability is likely to be announced in the coming weeks.

While details on the RTM version are still vague right now, a new rumor spotted on MDL forums indicates that Microsoft might use this build to roll out some essential improvements, including an eagerly-awaited fix for the infamous blurry text bug spotted in both Windows 8 and 8.1.

Microsoft to Fix Blurry Text Bug in Windows 8.1 RTM

 

[Matfink]

I don't understand what you complain about

Well there's the door, please use it
Try reading small blurry text for more than a ten minutes and you may empathise.

 

[4wd]

IE nice and sharp on left, blurry Chrome & steam dlg on right. View attachment 27529

Interesting, seems 8.1 have fixed IE at the cost of degrading other things. On W8 laptops here (even my brand new Haswell Tosh) it's the opposite, IE suffers while other browsers look razor sharp. Seems MS is experimenting, let's hope they somehow manage to get it right in the end.

(btw, your attachment disappeared > "Invalid Attachment specified", please repost).

Edit: added IE10 (left) vs FF (right) screenshot from W8, HP laptop.
And to the deniers, please, no need to repeat the useless mantras about software rendering, driver update, clear type adjust etc.

 

[acr731]

Windows 8.1 is expected to reach the RTM development stage sometime this month, while general availability is likely to be announced in the coming weeks.

While details on the RTM version are still vague right now, a new rumor spotted on MDL forums indicates that Microsoft might use this build to roll out some essential improvements, including an eagerly-awaited fix for the infamous blurry text bug spotted in both Windows 8 and 8.1.

Microsoft to Fix Blurry Text Bug in Windows 8.1 RTM

Funny... I was bashed for bringing this up and told that the problem didn't exist. Hmmmm...

And they didn't correct the problem either.

 

[The Doctor]

I have had the blurry text problem ever since Win 8 beta and it is still not fixed in Win 8.1 RTM.

It is worst in IE11 and Office 2013 and makes both unusable.

I sure hope the rumors about a fix in the pipeline are true.

 

[lehnerus2000]

Funny... I was bashed for bringing this up and told that the problem didn't exist. Hmmmm...

I'm not surprised.
Fan boys live in a different dimension to everyone else.

I don't like the look of the fonts in W8, but I thought that it was just the horrible grey-on-white colour scheme.
Those screenshots make it clear that something weird is happening.

 

[Hopachi]

Out of topic:

This is new that I see, sorry if it's already covered: in my previous post, and noticed with others too, all seems OK if I'm logged in but if I'm logged out I see an extra link to the word drivers that I didn't add.

Is it the forum's normal thing of advertising so that I should not worry about?

Same thing happens to me if I am signed out. BTW I am using Chrome Beta when this happens.

EDIT: I think it only happens if you have Windows 8.1 like both of us do.

At least I'm not alone on this one.

For the OS-part, I'm afraid I see it on Win7 and Mac OS X as well, on Chrome beta and Safari. So it's not Win8.1 related.


Back to topic:
If I see the blur: I would try different cleartype options, different graphics drivers and/or display icc-profiles.

 

[johnpombrio]

The best way to show blurry texts is to magnify them.


I am pretty sure that the issue was the same that Win7 had back in the day, make the text larger by using the slider and the text would become blurrier. Larger but not crisp like the native resolution. Today things are looking better but there are still a few cases of blurriness.
any advice I can give would be to use the slider bar ONLY and avoid using the individual text box to change the font size. If you do change something, rerun the cleartype setting dialogue:

 

[johnpombrio]

Another example with Chrome on top and Firefox on the bottom:




Notice the color shift on the letters in the first example of text not lining up with the rest of the letter? That is called blurriness, heh.

 

[waltc]

Rumour only.
Got Win 8.1 here on a new laptop. Native windows GUI and IE are crisp and clear. Everything else is blurry and headache-inducing, especially Chrome

I haven't seen it, either, fortunately. Firefox text is as clear as it has ever been. I wonder if some folks maybe need to adjust their ClearType?

 

[johnpombrio]

Walt, if ONLY it was just a matter of cleartype. Actually, cleartype is automatically turned on when installing Win 7 and Win8 (or 8.1). All we do these days is fine tune it by picking the right boxes. No, this is a real problem that needs to be fixed by MS. I had zero issues with Win8 and immediately noticed the problem with the install of 8.1. I did a huge amount of fuzting about with cleartype, changing the display sizes, etc, all of the usual fixes. As you can see above, Chrome definitely took a hit as did several other programs.

 

[mark233]

On my Windows 8 machine, text is good in Firefox. Not so good in IE 10. I can tolerate it for a spell in IE ... but it's messing with my eyes. :-/

 

[johnpombrio]

There is ANOTHER fuzzy text bug! It worked great for me. BTW, after a search here, I found that Atiro posted this solution on another post. Here is the fix:


http://www.eightforums.com/general-...problem-has-not-been-fixed-win-8-1-rtm-6.html

 

[EdTittel]

Just updated my production desktop to the latest 331.58 Nvidia drivers and "Presto!" blurry text issues on this rig are a thing of the past. Could be awhile before the driver makers catch up across the board, but this seems to offer some hope of repair as well. Just checked Firefox, Chrome, Safari and IE 11: "Alles klar, Herr Kommissar!"
--Ed--

 

[waltc]

Walt, if ONLY it was just a matter of cleartype. Actually, cleartype is automatically turned on when installing Win 7 and Win8 (or 8.1). All we do these days is fine tune it by picking the right boxes. No, this is a real problem that needs to be fixed by MS. I had zero issues with Win8 and immediately noticed the problem with the install of 8.1. I did a huge amount of fuzting about with cleartype, changing the display sizes, etc, all of the usual fixes. As you can see above, Chrome definitely took a hit as did several other programs.

Well, that's what I meant by "adjusting cleartype"--if it isn't "tuned" it can look blurry. Eyes, monitors, gpus, resolutions are all different, thus the whole reasoning behind a cleartype adjustment procedure. Just a suggestion...

Something I've noticed recently that this thread brings to mind, though--when I view a page with a dark-blue/black background and light/white text, the text seems to "modulate" between blurry and sharp. It is very noticeable. I thought at first it might be my monitor acting up but now I'm not so sure. Actually, I'd be relieved if it wasn't the monitor... Come to think of it I did not *see this* until after I had moved from 8 to 8.1... I really notice it when I open a comment thread on the front news page of this site www.hardocp.com . Doesn't happen immediately but rather sporadically.

Edit: My box for "using one ppi-density setting for all devices" was already checked--so I unchecked it--see what that does or if anything changes. Right now, I'm not seeing the problem. Fingers crossed.

Edit 2: I still have this problem, and I'm now leaning back toward it being a monitor issue. It's actually not so much blurriness as it is brightness--white text against a black/dark background periodically modulates between bright white (normal) and gray-white dimming. The dimming at first looks blurred, but actually isn't on closer inspection.

 

[johnpombrio]

Just updated my production desktop to the latest 331.58 Nvidia drivers and "Presto!" blurry text issues on this rig are a thing of the past. Could be awhile before the driver makers catch up across the board, but this seems to offer some hope of repair as well. Just checked Firefox, Chrome, Safari and IE 11: "Alles klar, Herr Kommissar!"
--Ed--

Darn it. Now was it checking the little box for "all monitors on the Adjust text size display or was it the New NVidia driver. I did both things on the same day! I went back and unchecked the box and I did not see any issues so maybe an NVidia driver fix!

 

[johnpombrio]

Edit 2: I still have this problem, and I'm now leaning back toward it being a monitor issue. It's actually not so much blurriness as it is brightness--white text against a black/dark background periodically modulates between bright white (normal) and gray-white dimming. The dimming at first looks blurred, but actually isn't on closer inspection.

Walt, does your monitor have an automatic ambient room light dimming option? If so, try turning that off.

 

[Mystere]

Just updated my production desktop to the latest 331.58 Nvidia drivers and "Presto!" blurry text issues on this rig are a thing of the past. Could be awhile before the driver makers catch up across the board, but this seems to offer some hope of repair as well. Just checked Firefox, Chrome, Safari and IE 11: "Alles klar, Herr Kommissar!"
--Ed--

Darn it. Now was it checking the little box for "all monitors on the Adjust text size display or was it the New NVidia driver. I did both things on the same day! I went back and unchecked the box and I did not see any issues so maybe an NVidia driver fix!

Oh.. gee... Whoda thunk it was a driver issue? I can't imagine how anyone might criticize someone else about how smart they are and that drivers aren't the issue, only to in fact have it be a driver issue...

How's that foot taste?

 

[johnpombrio]

Darn it. Now was it checking the little box for "all monitors on the Adjust text size display or was it the New NVidia driver. I did both things on the same day! I went back and unchecked the box and I did not see any issues so maybe an NVidia driver fix!

Oh.. gee... Whoda thunk it was a driver issue? I can't imagine how anyone might criticize someone else about how smart they are and that drivers aren't the issue, only to in fact have it be a driver issue...

How's that foot taste?

http://www.eightforums.com/general-...-not-been-fixed-win-8-1-rtm-7.html#post295929
Oops, the driver was not the complete fix after all. I unchecked the box and Chrome was blurry again, something which I did not check the 1st time I reverted back to see if the checked box was the issue. Thank you atiro (new member) and boruguru (new member who joined just to give folks another link). Their posts were helpful, yours Mystere, not so much.

Yes, I have to admit I am smart, rich, and good looking. Sorry if you feel envious.

 

[johnpombrio]

Repeat of post from this page:
http://www.eightforums.com/general-...-not-been-fixed-win-8-1-rtm-7.html#post296399

K, I have found the problem and the solution.

Win8.1 released version does NOT LIKE to have the text size changed. This applies to both the desktop and BROWSERS. For instance, going to the Display page and increasing the text size will cause burred text. So will going to a browser and using CNTL+ mouse wheel to enlarge the browser screen. The browser now becomes blurry (I verified this). The FIX is to check the box on the display section called "Let me choose One Scaling Level". That should fix both issues.

BTW, loading in a new graphics driver will RESET the resolution back to the default, "fixing" the problem.

 

[4wd]

Testing 8.1 on 2 HP laptops, FF = crisp and nice, IE11 = blur & soft. 100% similar to the example posted here.
Different tricks of no help on these screens, no way to override MS's choices regarding font rendering.