I'd like to leave ClearType on for most of my applications, but 1 or 2 of them really need it turned off because the characters look horribly fuzzy with it turned on. I'm using Windows 7. Is there any way to specify an application that ClearType should be disabled on?
Windows – How to turn off ClearType for one application only
cleartyperenderingwindowswindows 7
Related Solutions
This post suggests that you:
Clearing the recent documents history clears the Jump Lists MRU as well. Use these steps:
Right-click on the Taskbar (Superbar) and choose Properties
In the Start Menu tab, uncheck the following option:
Click Apply
This clears the recent documents history and the Jump Lists MRU. The Pinned items are not cleared.
I tried it out and it works for Explorer, but off course this will also go for all the other jump lists. Until I find a hack that does it, you will either have to disable everything or live with your relatives seeing where you've been ;-)
Off course, you could disable the function and use someting like 7stack or JumpLauncher to create the jump list you want. Also making sure it only shows what you want!
Or keep an eye out for the Windows 7 blog where they go into the details of the API. It shouldn't be long before you can hack the registry to get what you need.
If I move my windows to a slightly different position, then different set of letters are fuzzy.
What type of monitor are you using and how is it connected?
My suspicion is you're talking about a flat-panel display connected with an analogue interface such as a VGA cable. The screen is failing to sync exactly with the timing of the signal and consequently there isn't a 1:1 match between the pixels the computer is sending and the physical ones on the screen. This will make everything slightly blurry and though text will be one of the first things you notice, changing the font settings won't help.
You should be able to improve matters by adjusting the clock rate and offset from the monitor's settings menu. There is usually also an ‘auto’ button that will try to guess it again. Use a sharp pixel image so you can immediately see any blurring due to desync.
A digital display being driven by analogue is an unhappy thing and though you can optimise it as above will never look nearly as sharp as one connected via digital links (DVI, HDMI or DisplayPort). If you have a digital input on the screen, you really should be using that. (It is unfortunate and pointless that many cheap-and-nasty displays are sold with only VGA input.)
Related Question
- Windows – How to turn off ClearType and use whole-pixel anti-aliasing in Windows 7
- Windows – How to turn off automatic applications updates from windows
- Windows – How to fix ugly non-ClearType rendering of webfonts in Firefox without disabling them
- Firefox – Turn off font smoothing in SeaMonkey for Windows
Best Answer
No, ClearType works on the entire screen at once. You can't turn it on or off per application or per window.
You could turn it off altogether while you work with those two programs and then turn it back on, but that is probably just as uncomfortable as it sounds.
Instead, you should try to figure out what's wrong with the two programs that look bad. It might be possible to set them to use a different font, or a different "skin".