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

 

[timofort]

I can't believe no one in the world has found a trick to force RGB subpixel font rendering in Windows 8/8.1 IE & Metro UI Apps, since Windows 8 was released

However, many topics report this problem, even on answers.microsoft.com where MVPs are helpless.

 

[vrosa]

Why Am I not surprised with that ?

MS...

 

[4wd]

force RGB subpixel font rendering

Yes, on the wish list, an option to tick 'Use RGB subpixel' in display settings.

 

[Nemix]

The scaling fix does fix the blurry text issues on my laptop however I'm now getting the font rendering error that happens quite frequently in Firefox and Chrome.

I got fed up with this issue on my Intel 2nd Generation HD 3000 and took it to Intel forums, hopefully a driver update is coming soon that will fix these issues on the 1st and 2nd Generation Intel IGP's and add to support for WDMM 1.3 to the older IGP's.

 

[The Doctor]

Microsoft just needs to work more closely with videocard hardware manufactures to get better/updated drivers specifically optimized for Windows 8.1 on older hardware just like they've been doing with touchpad hardware manufactures.

The latest Synaptics touchpad driver for Windows 8.1 really works well on my laptop and has better tracking (previously was too fast and jumpy on Windows 8) and Windows 8.1 specific features that works in conjunction with the new kernel.

My hardware is not exactly old.
I have exactly the same blurry text problem using both the Intel graphics on my mobo and on my AMD card.
In addition, I have seen on Microsoft forums examples of users having the blurry text problem on brand new hardware.
I have also seen the blurry text in IE on new laptops for sale in retail stores.

This problem has nothing whatsoever to do with old hardware.

 

[Nemix]

@ The Doctor

I believe there's a discussion on the new driver for the 3rd and 4th Generation HD Graphics that fixes the blurry text problem which sounds just about right since Intel has been on a rampage releasing new drivers for the 3rd and 4th Generation IGP's to get it working correctly in Windows 8.1.

Of course Intel will release a ported version of the newer Generation IGP's updated driver down to the 1st and 2nd Generation IGP's once they've ironed out all the kinks with the 3rd and 4th drivers and feels it's as problem free as possible can under the given time constraint, I just have to be patient.

 

[Nemix]

Edit:

I got a response from Intel support directly and they said they're working on a driver update to fix the problems with Windows 8.1 and add new features to the older 1st and 2nd Gen IGP's, they just don't know the estimate time the driver will be released at the moment.

Which goes back to my theory that Intel is currently just focusing on their newer line 3rd and 4th Gen IGP's (which makes sense since most of these laptops shipped with Windows 8) and then once they have they driver close enough to perfection for porting to older Gen IGP's they will do so.

I'm happy will the response and now just patently waiting on a imminent fix from either Intel or Microsoft for my blurry text and font rendering issues with Windows 8.1.

Quote from Intel support:

Here at Intel we truly appreciate your feedback. Our software support and engineering group is working on future generations of this software that may enhance its compatibility with new operating system platforms such as Windows* 8.1. We cannot provide an estimated time for this to happen, but your feedback for sure is important and will be forwarded to higher levels of support.

Thank you one more time for your interest in our products and how to improve their range of support.

 

[labeeman]

Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 7 Blurry Font Issues

Microsoft recently released the new Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 7, thus making the latest version of its in-house browser available to more users of the world’s number one operating system.

While there’s no doubt that IE11 is one of the fastest and most stable IE versions released so far, it continues to have a terrible bug that’s affecting the browsing experience on lots of computers.

The blurry font issues that have been reported by users ever since Internet Explorer 9 hit the shelves appear to exist in IE11 as well, with some links and parts of text becoming pretty hard to read due to this problem.

As you can see in the screenshot we attached in this article, the bug only affects Internet Explorer 11 on Windows 7, as all the other browsers, in this case Mozilla Firefox, seem to render the text correctly.

Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 7 Blurry Font Issues

 

[4wd]

^^^ No surprise, same as in W8. & no use wasting time expecting anything from MS, they are blind and\or deaf. Solution:

simply switch to another browser that works better

 

[fafhrd]

But does this look blurry to anyone - it is a Microsoft font called Calibri
But does this look blurry to anyone - it is a Microsoft font called Candara
But does this look blurry to anyone - it is a Microsoft font called Segoe UI
But does this look blurry to anyone - it is a Microsoft font called Arial
But does this look blurry to anyone - it is a Microsoft font called Tahoma
But does this look blurry to anyone - it is a Microsoft font called Verdana


The only [DEL]one[/DEL] two that look OK are Tahoma, Verdana, Arial and Segoe UI are almost OK, but Candara and Calibri look most odd - Oh, forgot to say which Browser - Chrome

 

[4wd]

QUOTE=fafhrd
But does this look blurry to anyone - it is a Microsoft font called Calibri
But does this look blurry to anyone - it is a Microsoft font called Candara
But does this look blurry to anyone - it is a Microsoft font called Segoe UI
But does this look blurry to anyone - it is a Microsoft font called Arial
But does this look blurry to anyone - it is a Microsoft font called Verdana
/QUOTE

^^^ Using XP\W7 + FF25 & IE8\9 = no blurr, all are sharp.

Will take a look later using 8\81 & IE10\11.

Edit: W81 IE11, everything blurry. FF25 all sharp.
Edit2: W8 IE10, everything blurry. FF25 all sharp.

Anyway, no problem here, have been using this recommendation for a long time: "switch to another browser that works better".

 

[fafhrd]

There are other font renderers available other than the code found in the standard Windows gdi32.dll version. Because Far Eastern language characters are more varied and complex then the European alphabets, Japanese and Chinese developers have been trying to increase the clarity in some text applications for their character sets:
https://code.google.com/p/gdipp/
https://code.google.com/p/ezgdi/

GDIPP is interesting in that you can set it to render individual selected apps (it's very variable if used to render everything with normal Windows font smoothing turned off). It does seem to improve IE 11 at the expense of other applications like Chrome.

There's also MacType

https://code.google.com/p/mactype/

I guess that this emulates MAC font rasterization under Windows.

 

[waltc]

The only problems I had with Ff seem to have been corrected, whether from Ff 25.0.1, or from my latest Catalyst update to 13.11 (b9.2), or from the latest Win8.1x64 updates this past Wednesday (always patch Tuesday is patch Wednesday for me for some reason...)

1) Sidebar bookmarks are no longer corrupted with the browser's "hardware acceleration" feature turned on (which definitely is nice.)

2) The pulsing dimming/brightening text I used to see from white text on a black background has ceased. I think this was caused by the screen-brightening/dimming feature of 8.1--which I had turned off because my monitor doesn't have the corresponding light-level monitoring hardware. Apparently, the feature is now working correctly and off is not on...

 

[waltc]

There's also MacType...

https://code.google.com/p/mactype/

I guess that this emulates MAC font rasterization under Windows.

Trying this as we speak and the differences are so slight that I'm not sure there are any differences...but thanks for the link nevertheless! It's strange, but now I'm seeing the reverse of what I had been seeing before--now something's going on with black text on a white background. The fonts will sometimes just pulse every couple of minutes between blurry & sharp--exactly what used to happen for me with white text on dark backgrounds....when I last posted I had not noticed this yet. (Right now, for instance, I'm not seeing it here.) Go figure...

 

[MilesAhead]

More info: Poor font rendering in Windows 8 (blurry text) - Microsoft Community

M$ says they are listening to customers.

In that case I should post an audio file: "Make the fix available for 8.8. I don't need 8.1. This one works pretty well if only I could read what's on my monitor."

 

[fafhrd]

Pulsing blur. [DEL]USA[/DEL] Martian power supplies are 60Hz, I'm told. Is your Monitor also running at a standard screen refresh rate of 60Hz? It could be a simple harmonic beat with stray EM fields. The power supply frequencies can be quite variable depending on demand. You'd only get a beat if the frequencies were very closely mismatched. Just a thought.

Is there a phase adjustment to alter the horizontal rate? Can you try altering the monitor refresh rate to 70 or 85 Hz to see if the pulse went away?

 

[MilesAhead]

The best I could do was gamma adjustment. That helped a lot. But it's a Toshiba Laptop. No contrast adjustment. I get by with FF Color Toggle AddOn.

 

[waltc]

Pulsing blur. [DEL]USA[/DEL] Martian power supplies are 60Hz, I'm told. Is your Monitor also running at a standard screen refresh rate of 60Hz? It could be a simple harmonic beat with stray EM fields. The power supply frequencies can be quite variable depending on demand. You'd only get a beat if the frequencies were very closely mismatched. Just a thought.

Is there a phase adjustment to alter the horizontal rate? Can you try altering the monitor refresh rate to 70 or 85 Hz to see if the pulse went away?

Well, I use the dust-proof XV-51C variant power supplies these days--while approved by the GMC (Global Martian Consortium) they do project an oscillating EM field that serves as a block to the dust here, so you may be on to something!...

It does sound strange but I don't want to over emphasize the event: it doesn't cause much in the way of real inconvenience. It's just something I've noticed (with my 60Hz monitor since I updated to 8.1 from 8.0). It's sporadic. And as I mentioned, it's flipped polarity, as it were, going from happening with white text on black bg, to happening with black text on a white bg. However, if the background is an off-white, like this site, for instance, it doesn't occur. It feels like an OS bug of some kind relating to 8.1's auto-dimming/brightening code, as though the feature isn't actually turned off all the time, and may be sensitive to detecting a type of high-contrast 2d graphical environment--who knows? Merely a guess at the moment. I really had thought it possibly a problem with my monitor, until the "flip," that is.

 

[spddemun]

I am still seeing the blurry text, since upgrading to 8.1. FF is my daily browser (sometimes IE), but both look awful! I can Ctrl+ to up the size and sometimes makes it readable, but not always (and a PITA!) and not for long.

I tried updating vid drivers, says they're the latest already. Then I noticed my AMD Catalyst Control has disappeared from my tray. I tried reinstalling it, gives me a fail on one part. I went to AMDs site and downloaded again, only to find it tells me what I have it already correct/the same.

Clear Type does nothing to fix (numerous times), and checking the box for Let me choose one scaling for displays...does nothing (it wasn't checked before, and don't know if 8.1 unchecked it, or it never was checked).

This makes my daily laptop almost unusable with all the blur...WHY did this happen with a simple upgrade?

I've been mostly using my 8YO desktop that still (luckily!) has 7 Pro on it. I have my gamer laptop to upgrade to 8.1, but NO WAY after this!

I'm open to any other suggestions, or if I need to provide more info. Very sad.

 

[MilesAhead]

Try Start Screen search Settings. Type in Cali and you should see Calibrate Display Color. In there one of the adjustments should be Gamma. See this video

Even though it's W7 it's the same gamma sliders I did on W8.

It should help a bit.