Has anyone figured out a way to GLOBALLY disable Cleartype in Vista?

John

Moderator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
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Unfortunately I can't stand cleartype and I'm not alone. I am aware of how to do it this way:

1. Right click desktop, click personalize.
2. Click "windows color and appearence"
3. Click "Open classic appearance properties for more color options."
4. Click effects.
5. Uncheck "Use the following method to smooth screen fonts"

I can also disable it in IE7.

However there is still a lot of cleartype in the OS that is not disabled. I don't see any global settings, and I noticed that when I was going to install Office 2007 Enterprise in XP the setup screen had cleartype. IMHO it should be disabled by default because in most cases it simply blurrs the text.
 

SimMike2

Platinum Member
Aug 15, 2000
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You must be using a CRT, because with most LCD, cleartype is noticably smoother and easier to read. When it is off, I see terrible anti-alias jaggies. Sure it looks sharper, but it has jaggies, which I can't stand. With a CRT, I don't see these because the CRT kind of blurs the font, in which case cleartype will blur it even more.
 

John

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Oct 9, 1999
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I'm using 2x 1800FP LCD's and they do not do well with cleartype. Regardless, I have used dozens of various LCD monitors, including those on laptops, and my personal preference is to have cleartype disabled. As it stands Vista will not allow you to globally disable it which is a shame.
 

Shawn

Lifer
Apr 20, 2003
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Originally posted by: John
I'm using 2x 1800FP LCD's and they do not do well with cleartype. Regardless, I have used dozens of various LCD monitors, including those on laptops, and my personal preference is to have cleartype disabled. As it stands Vista will not allow you to globally disable it which is a shame.

Same here. Cleartype looks horrible on my 1800fp no matter how I try to adjust the settings.
 

cubby1223

Lifer
May 24, 2004
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Originally posted by: John
IMHO it should be disabled by default because in most cases it simply blurrs the text.
Blurs the text *and* creates a pretty rainbow of colors around the font edges. Yuck...
 

mechBgon

Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
Oct 31, 1999
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In step 4, if you click Advanced instead of Effects, then click on the text shown in the find-it pic, and switch them from Segoe UI to Tahoma or something that's not an inherent CT font, that may help turn off more of the ClearType.

Any good?
 

gpgofast

Senior member
Oct 6, 2000
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The Dell 1800's required the "Cleartype Tuner" to function correctly. The pixel layout is different on these displays. Is there the option to use the "Cleartype Tuner" in vista???
 

John

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Oct 9, 1999
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shekondar

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Apr 10, 2003
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1. Right-click Computer icon on desktop
2. Click "Advanced System Settings"
3. Click the first "Settings" button (under Performance)
4. Uncheck "Smooth edges of screen fonts"
5. Click OK
 

zig3695

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Feb 15, 2007
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im liking my samsung 225bw more and more. it had backlight bleed and not very good contrast from what i thought, but man i never had text or cleartype problems. with or without cleartype this screen has amazing text. with cleartype its even better, and vista did the right thing by enabling it default. i bet there will be less then 3% of users that want to disable cleartype in vista.
 

John

Moderator Emeritus<br>Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
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shekondar, unfortunately that doesn't globally disable cleartype.

zig3695, I appreciate your opinion on cleartype, but the fact of the matter is we all have opinions on what looks good to our own two eyes. Since it can be enabled/disabled globally in XP one would think Vista would offer the same choice. Being forced to view things a certain way is not the best approach to keeping everyone happy. If MS was confident that cleartype was perfect for everyone why give an option to disable it in IE 7 and in other parts of the OS?
 

mechBgon

Super Moderator<br>Elite Member
Oct 31, 1999
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Originally posted by: John
shekondar, unfortunately that doesn't globally disable cleartype.

zig3695, I appreciate your opinion on cleartype, but the fact of the matter is we all have opinions on what looks good to our own two eyes. Since it can be enabled/disabled globally in XP one would think Vista would offer the same choice. Being forced to view things a certain way is not the best approach to keeping everyone happy. If MS was confident that cleartype was perfect for everyone why give an option to disable it in IE 7 and in other parts of the OS?
Did you try my other idea above (using a non-CT font for the GUI)?
 

Wolfpup

Member
Jan 25, 2006
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I *hate* Cleartype too. It just smudges up text, makes it uglier and harder to read, and produces that rainbow effect.

I've never seen an LCD where it looks better on than off.

That's really disappointing Vista would not only make it the default, but remove a way to disable it?
 

NoVo

Senior member
May 16, 2001
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This is the one thing that annoyed me most about Vista. Hoping for a custom theme that disables CT everywhere.

 

Mem

Lifer
Apr 23, 2000
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Originally posted by: shekondar
1. Right-click Computer icon on desktop
2. Click "Advanced System Settings"
3. Click the first "Settings" button (under Performance)
4. Uncheck "Smooth edges of screen fonts"
5. Click OK

Thx!...that worked for my Firefox 2 in Vista x64,was wondering how to remove cleartype from Firefox 2 :) , think I have most of cleartype removed.

Update: just checked my IE7, no cleartype on I can see :).