Anyone else notice that Windows Settings fonts are not be crisp and clean compared to W10, W8, and W7?

Sammy888 · Oct 23, 2022

My monitor resolution is currently 2560x1440 74.78 Hz.

The issue is only on Windows Settings, not with other applications or browsing. Below are some sample screenshots.

spapakons · Oct 23, 2022

I suspect this had to do with the Cleartype settings. Click on the magnifying glass on the taskbar and search for Cleartype. Then go through the wizard to properly configure Cleartype. You will get cleaner text everywhere.

Sammy888 · Oct 23, 2022

spapakons said:
I suspect this had to do with the Cleartype settings. Click on the magnifying glass on the taskbar and search for Cleartype. Then go through the wizard to properly configure Cleartype. You will get cleaner text everywhere.

That's the first thing I did. I also confirmed I had the latest monitor driver installed should W11 removed. Again, its only within Windows Settings panel.

Do you notice the slight blurr with the fonts?

spapakons · Oct 23, 2022

Disable transparency. This could do the trick.

Sammy888 · Oct 23, 2022

spapakons said:
Disable transparency. This could do the trick.

Hmm. I may have already. Where is that found, exactly? I have settings set for best performance.

spapakons · Oct 23, 2022

One way to find it is Settings -> Accessibility -> Personalization -> Colors and turn off transparency.

Sammy888 · Oct 23, 2022

spapakons said:
One way to find it is Settings -> Accessibility -> Personalization -> Colors and turn off transparency.

Oh yes. It’s disabled.

Senecio · Oct 23, 2022

Are your windows scaling and resolution both set to recommended settings? Not using the recommended settings can cause havoc with font clarity.

(right click on desktop and select display settings)

Sammy888 · Oct 23, 2022

Senecio said:
Are your windows scaling and resolution both set to recommended settings? Not using the recommended settings can cause havoc with font clarity.

(right click on desktop and select display settings)

Yes, they are.This was the first thing I checked after Windows 11 was installed and upgraded from 10. It made no difference if I upgraded from 10 or did a fresh install of 11.

Sammy888 · Oct 23, 2022

spapakons said:
One way to find it is Settings -> Accessibility -> Personalization -> Colors and turn off transparency.

BTW, on my Windows 11 (Home) version, Colors and transparency are located in:
Settings-> Personalization-> Colours -> Transparency Effects

I also went into Settings -> Accessibility ->Visual effects ->Transparency effects.

From the pic below, you should (hopefully) see the ghosting of the text.

spapakons · Oct 23, 2022

In that case use Winaero Tweaker to change the relevant system font and get a clearer appearance. Could this be fixed by increasing the scaling from 100% to 125%? Are you using the native resolution (maximum possible) for your monitor? Try upgrading the graphics drivers. In my father's computer running Windows 10, I had a similar issue (blur text in some applications) and I used a utility to replace the default Windows 10 scaling method with the Windows 8 scaling method making text clearer. Unfortunately I don't remember how was called. Download Winaero Tweaker and have a look at the available tweaks. I think there is a relevant setting there.

Sammy888 · Oct 23, 2022

spapakons said:
In that case use Winaero Tweaker to change the relevant system font and get a clearer appearance. Could this be fixed by increasing the scaling from 100% to 125%? Are you using the native resolution (maximum possible) for your monitor? Try upgrading the graphics drivers. In my father's computer running Windows 10, I had a similar issue (blur text in some applications) and I used a utility to replace the default Windows 10 scaling method with the Windows 8 scaling method making text clearer. Unfortunately I don't remember how was called. Download Winaero Tweaker and have a look at the available tweaks. I think there is a relevant setting there.

HI. Thanks for the reminder and recommendation for Windows tweaker. All the drivers are updated and I'm at the max resolution for my monitor.

I just tried scaling to 125%. And low and behold, the font issue is resolved. But the fonts are way too large. I believe I tried this before and I had to compromise and put-up with the the smudgy fonts within Windows Settings.

Perhaps there's another way to keep the fonts at 125% or for just Settings only?

Senecio · Oct 24, 2022

@Sammy888 Thanks for the reply. I have some sympathy because I have previously had exactly your problem. I think then, it was because a lot of windows system settings were using pictures of text rather than truetype fonts. You can see this by selecting the old control panel and then the mail icon. This has largely disappeared since the newer settings menus have taken over.

Just as an aside, you can change the system font using one of Brink's tutorials without using a third party application: Change Default System Font in Windows 11 Tutorial

You may well be able to find a font which looks better on your system.

spapakons · Oct 24, 2022

Sans-serif fonts (such as Arial) usually look better than Serif fonts (such as Times New Roman). You can also enable bold to make lines thicker.

Probably you have done it already, but make sure you have latest graphics drivers installed. Have a look at Device Manager, Display Adapters. If you have the generic Microsoft Basic Display Adapter instead of your actual hardware, would explain the blur text. Even if the current resolution matches your monitor's maximum, it wouldn't be rendered good enough as with proper graphics drivers.

Ghot · Oct 24, 2022

Sammy888 said:
Yes, they are.This was the first thing I checked after Windows 11 was installed and upgraded from 10. It made no difference if I upgraded from 10 or did a fresh install of 11.

First, let me say, I can't "see" the problem you're talking about (old eyes).
But you might want to try this setting, on or off, to see if it makes a difference.

Pic from Win 10...

The last window is found in Performance > Settings

glasskuter · Oct 24, 2022

I have a PC with a 27" monitor and out of box 11 definitely rendered way worse for me than 10 did. Font rendering is better using dark mode, but since I prefer light, it took a lot of trial and error until I got everything acceptable for me and my eyes. In my case the issue was only in explorer. Here are the things I did. Maybe one or several of them will help you.

1. turn on clear type

2. set smooth edges of screen fonts'

3. tweak scale and font size. settings-system-display. Make sure display rate is 60 hz. If scale looks decent in explorer you can then adjust your browsers zoom to suit you.

4. Change Default System Font in Windows 11 Tutorial I tried many but in the end segoe ui actually rendered best for me

5. "Adjust Appearance and performance of Windows" set it to 'Adjust for best appearance'.

Universal apps and desktop apps will display differently as a hard-coded program's font size takes priority over the system font size.

I also found that changing the Windows default folder color from the pale yellow (that I couldn't see) to blue made a difference. Here's my old post about it, and @FreeBooter solution. Need help changing folder icons in explorer and regedit

Themes also affect fonts so find a theme you like and stick to it as well.

Sammy888 · Oct 24, 2022

Ghot said:
First, let me say, I can't "see" the problem you're talking about (old eyes).
But you might want to try this setting, on or off, to see if it makes a difference.

Pic from Win 10...
View attachment 43223

The last window is found in Performance > Settings

Hi. I tried this and I had my settings like this. I toggled off and on. Off was much worse.

glasskuter said:
I have a PC with a 27" monitor and out of box 11 definitely rendered way worse for me than 10 did. Font rendering is better using dark mode, but since I prefer light, it took a lot of trial and error until I got everything acceptable for me and my eyes. In my case the issue was only in explorer. Here are the things I did. Maybe one or several of them will help you.

1. turn on clear type

2. set smooth edges of screen fonts'

3. tweak scale and font size. settings-system-display. Make sure display rate is 60 hz. If scale looks decent in explorer you can then adjust your browsers zoom to suit you.

4. Change Default System Font in Windows 11 Tutorial I tried many but in the end segoe ui actually rendered best for me

5. "Adjust Appearance and performance of Windows" set it to 'Adjust for best appearance'.

Universal apps and desktop apps will display differently as a hard-coded program's font size takes priority over the system font size.

I also found that changing the Windows default folder color from the pale yellow (that I couldn't see) to blue made a difference. Here's my old post about it, and @FreeBooter solution. Need help changing folder icons in explorer and regedit

Themes also affect fonts so find a theme you like and stick to it as well.

Thanks for the detailed response.

When I first tried W11 at the beginning of the year. I ended up with some real bizarre font issues after tweaking and the only way to resolve them was to perform a fresh (clean) install of Windows 11. A repair didn't work, nothing did aside from this nuclear approach. The thread is located here.

spapakons · Oct 25, 2022

Have you installed proper graphics drivers? If you trust Windows Update is very probable that you have Microsoft Basic Display Adapter instead because it could not find proper graphics drivers. This provides zero hardware acceleration (slow as hell) and cannot do non-standard resolutions (eg 1366x768), only standard (eg 1024x768). Using any resolution lower than your monitor's native resolution could explain the blur. So first make sure you have proper graphics drivers and that you have set the maximum possible resolution for your monitor. Also configure Cleartype as I suggested in my previous post.

Sammy888 · Oct 25, 2022

spapakons said:
Have you installed proper graphics drivers? If you trust Windows Update is very probable that you have Microsoft Basic Display Adapter instead because it could not find proper graphics drivers. This provides zero hardware acceleration (slow as hell) and cannot do non-standard resolutions (eg 1366x768), only standard (eg 1024x768). Using any resolution lower than your monitor's native resolution could explain the blur. So first make sure you have proper graphics drivers and that you have set the maximum possible resolution for your monitor. Also configure Cleartype as I suggested in my previous post.

Of course. I have the latest NVIDIA and monitor drivers. And no, I don't trust Microsoft for device drivers. I only use the "recommended" monitor resolution which is shown in the pic in Post #1. As I mentioned earlier, I configured Cleartype font. These are all basic tasks I do whenever I install the OS and periodically re-check them. And in case you're thinking maybe Windows is wrong with the recommended monitor resolution? It's not. That's the max resolution on this 32 inch monitor.

For whatever reason W11 just won't display crisp fonts within it's Settings (and it's features) unless I go with 125% scaling.

I noticed earlier today that even Google Sheets via Chrome browser isn't crisp either. I read other complaints about W11 with similar font issues.

As a guess, perhaps others don't connect their laptop to an external monitor of this size so the issue isn't wide-spread.

spapakons · Oct 25, 2022

What about changing the Windows 10/11 scaling method with the Windows 8 method using Winaero Tweaker or other suitable tool?

Anyone else notice that Windows Settings fonts are not be crisp and clean compared to W10, W8, and W7?

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