[DPI Scaling Fix] Bold, Blurry or Hard to Read Font Problem in Windows 8.1 / 10

UPDATE: If you are using Windows 10, check out following tutorial first:

Let Windows 10 Automatically Fix Blurry Apps Problem

Old problem but new operating system and different problems but single solution! If you can remember, long time back we shared a solution to fix bold and italic font problem in Windows 7:

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[Fix] Bold and Italic Font Problem in Windows

Now a similar problem has started occurring in Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 operating systems. Many Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 users are facing a strange problem in which the fonts on screen look weird. The screen text becomes very hard to read. The text looks blurry like you are having an incorrect screen resolution or a faulty graphics card.

Sometimes the issue occurs in text fields and sometimes it happens in programs such as Visual Studio, web browsers like Google Chrome, Opera, etc. Also there are many Windows users who have faced this issue in Metro apps such as Camera, Mail and Windows Store.

Recently an AskVG reader “Lior” contacted us regarding the same problem and after troubleshooting this strange issue, we were successful in finding a working solution for it.

Actually Microsoft has improved many things in Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 and one of these improvements can be found in DPI Scaling system. Microsoft has added a new option to apply one scaling level for all connected display in screen resolution settings. By default this option is disabled and this is the reason behind this annoying problem.

The users who are facing blurry, bold or hard to read font problem in Windows 8.1 and Windows 10, just need to enable this new option and their problem will be fixed forever.

So if you are also facing this problem, just check out following simple steps:

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METHOD 1: Fix for Particular Program

If a particular program is causing this blurry font problem, you can fix the issue using following steps:

1. Right-click on the program shortcut and select Properties option.

2. Now go to Compatibility tab and enable “Disable display scaling on high DPI settings” option.

3. Apply the changes and restart the program. Now the program will show proper fonts.

METHOD 2: For Windows 8.1 Users

1. Right-click on Desktop and select “Screen resolution” option.

2. Now click on “Make text and other items larger or smaller” link.

Make_Text_Large_Small_Windows_8.png

3. It’ll open “Display” settings page. You can also directly open “Display” window by selecting “Personalize” option from Desktop context menu and then click on “Display” link given at the bottom of left-sidebar.

4. Now enable “Let me choose one scaling level for all my displays” option and apply the changes.

Enable_Common_Scaling_Windows_8_1_Display_Screens.png

5. Restart your system and your problem will be fixed.

METHOD 3: For Windows 10 Newer Versions Users

1. Right-click on Desktop and select “Display settings” option. It’ll open Display Settings app.

2. Now under “Scale and layout” section, select “100% (Recommended)” option from the drop-down box.

Change_Advanced_Scaling_Settings_Windows_10.png

3. Restart your computer to take effects and it’ll fix the issue.

METHOD 4: For Windows 10 Older Versions Users

1. Right-click on Desktop and select “Display settings” option. It’ll open Display Settings app.

2. Now click on “Advanced display settings” link and then click on “Advanced sizing of text and other items” link. It’ll open classic Display settings window.

Alternatively, you can direct open classic Display settings using following command in RUN dialog box:

explorer.exe shell:::{C555438B-3C23-4769-A71F-B6D3D9B6053A}

or

dpiscaling

3. Now under “Change size of items” section, click on “Set a custom scaling level” link.

Windows_10_Display_Settings.png

4. Now select 100% option from scaling drop-down box and click on OK button.

Set_Custom_Scaling_Level_Windows_10.png

5. Restart your system and your problem will be fixed.

Also Try:

[Guide] How to Use Built-in ClearType Text Tuner in Windows?

Fix Problems While Installing or Upgrading to Windows 8.1

Published in: Troubleshooting Guides, Windows 10, Windows 8

About the author: Vishal Gupta (also known as VG) has been awarded with Microsoft MVP (Most Valuable Professional) award. He holds Masters degree in Computer Applications (MCA). He has written several tech articles for popular newspapers and magazines and has also appeared in tech shows on various TV channels.

Comments

NOTE: Older comments have been removed to reduce database overhead.

  1. This worked great for me. Its too bad that I couldn`t use the 150% scale, but the regular works just as good. Thanks for the article

  2. kindly send me link for fixed this kind of problems guyssssssss

    plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
    and also suitable graphical driver link for window 8.1 on dual core processor

  3. Another important issue has to do with cables and the different resolutions supported by the different connection standards (VGA, DVI, HDMI, DisplayPort). Many people are trying to use a single-link DVI cable with a very high resolution monitor, but this type of cable maxes out at 1920×1200. To get higher resolutions that display properly, they need a double-link DVI cable, which maxes out at 2560×1600. You won’t know that the cable is causing a problem because your graphics card may show it is producing an output resolution that exceeds the specs for a single-link cable, but you will get a bad picture with blurry text. DisplayPort is the best option if available because it maxes out at 3840×2160. Next best would be to use double-link DVI cable matched to a graphics card and monitor that support the high resolution the user is trying to achieve. This is a common problem.

  4. I have the same issue on the latest MacBook Pro with the latest OS X. Do you guys have a solution for me?

  5. Perfect. What I’d been searching for a few days, it took 1 minute to fix.

    Thanks.

  6. Correction: In the ‘Display’ window, click on ‘Adjust ClearType text’ and follow the instructions in case the above steps are not able to fix it.

  7. I just started to have this problem today with my Dell Venue running 8.1 after a Windows update yesterday. I can’t read any email in Outlook. The text is too small and when I go to resize the page the text becomes fuzzy and unreadable. I don’t know whether to look for a solution or try to roll back the updates. According to some sites this is caused by a bug in the Win update KB 2670838. I hope that isn’t the problem because rolling back that update doesn’t correct the problem and it doesn’t look like Microsoft will fix the bug anytime soon because people have complaining about this for years. Looks like I might have to do a factory reinstall to correct the issue. I hope that’s not the case. Any suggestions?

  8. Brilliant! This was a very clearly explained solution to a very annoying problem.

    Thank you!

  9. This ridiculous problem has returned with Windows 10. Unfortunately, there is no “Let me choose one scaling level for all my displays” option in Windows 10. I have had no success trying to resolve this problem and am losing my eyesight. Please provide a fix for Windows 10 also. Many, many people around the world will appreciate it!

  10. This works in Windows 10 as well. Right click on desktop>Display Settings>Advanced display settings>Advanced sizing of text and other items

    Then in “Change size of items” Read the paragraph written just below the heading and click on “Set a custom scaling level” and set the percentage to 100%.

    Done.

  11. Hi VG
    I m use window 10 pro

    Please help me

    Any way to stop automatically download or installing windows update
    Or
    Only manually download and installing window update like window 7 in window 10

  12. So we have to choose between blurry text or tiny unreadable text? How is that a “fix”? In the old days a fix solved an issue without creating another.

  13. It worked as thing are not blurry anymore but they got extremely small on the other hand. They are good quality now but hard to read

  14. Salam, and thanx for ur effective solution, now nothing is blurry, but, something went wrong, and that is “everything is too small to see!”
    what shoud i do now?!!!

  15. THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!!! I was beginning to go c.zy!!! Such a simple fix!!! Thought it was something so much deeper!!! Dun dun duhhhhhhh…. Glad I didn’t need to replace my computer!!!

  16. For people with Windows 10 and Ultra HD where the recommended setting is 250%, how does scaling down to 100% improve anything? That just makes things smaller when the problem is that the scaling is already too small. I’m confused.

  17. Did not work. It has been going on as soon as I purchased the computer. Sent it back to dell twice. Still does it It does it randomly and it does when i swipe the touchpad. It fixes if I restart the computer.

  18. This solved my blurry text in Chrome problem on my new PC build, thank you for the easy solution!

  19. if i use smaller or medium font the content on the screen beccomes awfully small. And if i use larger font the contents becomes blurry again please help

  20. win 8.1 on 4th september 2016 started up blurry, all apps blurry also. thought the graphics card or driver was dead, installed new intel graphics driver, no fix.
    came here and all is good. another strange feature people reporting a change to the clock going from am pm display to 24 hour?? but for me my 24 hr clock went back exactly 1 hour. weird. it wouldnt update automatically, went into internet time settings and eventually got a time update. hope thats the clock fixed??.what the blazes did microsoft just send to my tablet? i refused the free offer of windows 10 to avoid this nonsense….seems they send out trouble to me on win 8.1 anyway!

  21. Thank you thank you thank you. I have been scratching my head and couldn’t find a resolution for Windows 10. Intel Support themselves suggested I upgrade to their Beta Driver for the Intel HD Graphics 520, which failed to work too. You’ve made my day 🙂

  22. Same as many others before: big thank you. I started with the official documentations and nothing helped, luckily I googled this article.
    Thanks again.

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