Font scaling got even worse with Creators Update

[mj0]

I was soooo looking forward to Windows 10 1703 because Microsoft claimed to have finally addressed the font scaling issues they've been having with HiDPI displays. And address it they did. Only that it has gotten much worse than before.

I have an external 4k display attached to my Thinkpad (primary screen) and have that set to 150% scaling. In addition, I use my laptop's internal display (secondary screen) at 100% scaling. With Windows 10 1607 applications were blurry either on one screen or the other, depending on the application and framework. For example, Office 2016 was always blurry on the secondary screen while GTK applications were always blurry on the primary screen. With Windows 10 1703 the behavior at large hasn't changed, and Office 2016 is still blurry on the secondary screen. Only that now in addition to being blurry the fonts are unreadable, because they're jagged and garbled. It's kinda like font antialiasing is somehow messed up and renders the fonts unreadable.

Any ideas how to fix this other than rolling back to 1607?

 

[mj0]

Here are two examples of what I mean. The first is Outlook 2007 (2016 has the exact same problem), the second is PuTTY:





Prior to the update the fonts were still blurry but they were't jagged at all, and much easier to read. As it is my eyes start to hurt after a while.

 

[mj0]

Here's yet another example:



I've tried fiddling with the ClearType settings to no avail. That only made it worse...

 

[mj0]

Come on people, I can't possibly be the only one with that problem :straight:
Is nobody else using two displays with different scaling factors? This is really bothering me, and I'm about to roll back to the previous version.

 

[mj0]

That's it, I officially gave up and rolled back to 1607. It's completely and utterly ridiculous what Microsoft has managed to do here - fonts look decidedly better on 1607 than on 1703 because now they're only blurry and not jagged anymore. Much easier on the eyes, I couldn't stand it much longer.

For direct comparison: top is 1703, bottom is what I'm back to with 1607:

View attachment 135016


View attachment 135017


View attachment 135018

 

[klausamtoft]

I had the exact same issues - running on a laptop (native res. 2560x1440), external screen (native 2560x1440) and external (native 1920x1080) both external screens set to 100% scale and the builtin set to 150%.

The external screens looked like crap. The scale factor for the builtin didn't affect the external displays.

It was driving me crazy as well and I tried setting a custom scale factor, as this has solved issues for me in the past, but not this time. However - when setting a custom scale factor, Windows hits you with a red text saying something like "A custom scale factor has been set" and a convenient link to reset this and sign out.

That fixed it for me. All displays are now behaving correctly and text/apps are smooth as expected.

 

[mj0]

I've tried that too, to no avail. The custom scale factor was applied to all screens, which made the external 4k display unusable, and I've uesd aforementioned red text to reset it. Unfortunately, it went back from tiny to crappy.

 

[tonyr6]

I am having the same issue so you are not alone but it seems like it. I tried everything from that outdated font ulitiy which did not work to right clicking on the shortcut to compatibility disable DPI which does not work BTW even the screen on the right click compatibility is blurry.

Since upgrading to Craptastic Update I have been getting more eyestrain and headaches. Makes my 1080p ISP monitor look more like a CRT from 1998.

 

[Peter Felts]

Hi guys, I work on the team that owns fixing high DPI in Windows. Sorry about this. We'll take a look and determined what regressed. I noticed that two of you mentioned that 150% scaling was involved in your setups... is anyone seeing worse text scaling when other display scale factors are involved (125%, etc.)?

Also, is anyone seeing worse text scaling on their primary displays (after logging out and back in after making any display scaling changes)?

 

[tonyr6]

My DPI is and always at 100 DPI. The fonts were nice and sharp until the creators update now certain fonts in any program is fuzzy. It is really noticeable as some programs will have some fonts fuzzy and others sharp in the same program screen.

BTW I also posted on this forum with more detail and no real help either.
https://www.tenforums.com/general-support/82535-blurry-text-since-creators-update.html

 

[madkevo]

Hi guys, I work on the team that owns fixing high DPI in Windows. Sorry about this. We'll take a look and determined what regressed. I noticed that two of you mentioned that 150% scaling was involved in your setups... is anyone seeing worse text scaling when other display scale factors are involved (125%, etc.)?

Also, is anyone seeing worse text scaling on their primary displays (after logging out and back in after making any display scaling changes)?

For me it's way worse on my secondary screen now. New ThinkPad 560s (2560x1440 at 150%) as primary and old Dell monitor as secondary at 1680x1050 at 100%

Will try other scaling factors on Primary (laptop) screen and edit post if any improvements. Though 100% or 125% are going to be too small for my failing eyes I think

Cheers
MK

App screenshots at 125% on primary (right) and 100% on secondary (left)

 

[storeman]

I got the same issues. Well, sometimes. I've got a hi-res display in my laptop and a 1080p external screen. With firefox and some other apps everything works ok. But some applications, like putty, are very unsharp. I've no clue why, but even the shift-right-mouse-button context menu is blurry for putty and not for firefox.

When setting the hi-res display to 100% scaling it doesn't change a thing. When setting the external display to 175% (max) it seems a lot sharper.

When changing the DPI settings for putty, it improves a little, but it never gets as good as it was before the Creators Update.

 

[hookedonorange]

Peter, could you please post an update where this issue stands at this point (June 2017). It is still a real issue that needs to be fixed ASAP. It is a real and damaging blemish on an otherwise great OS. Looking forward to your response. Thanks!

hookedonorange

 

[hookedonorange]

If it makes you feel any better I noticed the same thing as of today. I notice the problem in web browsers on certain pages. At first I thought it was an OS corruption problem or some issue related to Windows 10 sync across a user's devices. Just asked the guy who is on Microsoft's development team who posted here for an update. Let's see what he says.

 

[madkevo]

At this point I'm thinking about getting a new monitor with the same resolution as my laptop screen (2560x1440) to see if it solves this for me - I need a new monitor anyhow! Need to try it out in a store first before committing $$$

 

[DavidKaboom]

It's happening to me also. I updated to the Creator's Update yesterday and now the fonts look worse. The line width varies and it appears pixels are missing.
Having worked with fonts for many years, I know the arithmetic of scaling is tricky, but it is a surprise to me that it got worse - upgrades usually make things better.

I may roll back to the previous version (non-creative?) but maybe not. The last MS incremental update to that version caused the display to get very screwy and almost unreadable. Backing it out was fun because the display was so screwy that I had to guess where to click the mouse.

I think I'll take my Surface Pro 4 into the MS store sometime this week and see if they can help. If they do, I'll post in here.

 

[mjperry51]

Noticed that the fonts in my Dreamweaver Code window were displaying poorly after Creators update (NVidia GTX-650 based video card). Updated to the latest NVidia driver, and while the thumbnail previews from the taskbar are still worse than before, the DW code window is much better. . .

 

[Laura Miller4]

That is how I found this page. I thought I was going crazy because some fonts are almost illegible and it is definitely worse now that I did the update. I hope that Peter Felts still works on the team and can give us an update.

 

[LillWicke]

Have this issue been fixed with the latest OS-build 15063.447, that came yesterday?
Have anyone tested?

 

[Peter Felts]

Sorry that it took so long for me to get back to this thread. The regression has been identified and the latest Insider builds should have this addressed. If any of you are running Insider builds, I'd like to get your confirmation/feedback on whether the latest Insider build (16237) has addressed this blurriness regression properly.

No word yet on whether this will be released as a servicing fix for the current Creators Update release or whether we'll have to wait until the Fall Creators Update to see this in non-Insider builds.