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Fix Latest Chrome looking zoomed in and blurry

Google has released Chrome Stable 37 yesterday and with it came a new feature to improve font rendering on Windows. The text rendering was switched from Graphics Device Interface (GDI) to DirectWrite in Chrome 37 and while the majority of users did not report any issues, some users noticed that contents looked zoomed in and kinda blurry in the browser.

Most users who experience the issue on Windows seem to have set the DPI scaling to 125% instead of the default 100% value.

I was not able to reproduce the error on a Windows 7 Pro and a Windows 8 Pro system though which makes it likely that something else needs to be causing the issue.

Google is tracking the issue since Chrome 37 Beta on Google Code but it is not clear if and when the issue will be patched.

Fixes

Two temporary fixes have been discovered for users affected by the issue.

Fix 1: Parameters

You need to start Chrome with the following parameters to resolve the display issue: /high-dpi-support=1 /force-device-scale-factor=1

Here is how you do that:

  1. Find the Chrome icon that you click on. It may be on the Windows taskbar, a shortcut on the desktop, or in the start menu or on the start screen.
  2. Right-click the icon and select properties from the context menu if the icon is on the desktop or start menu/screen.
  3. If it is on the taskbar, right-click Google Chrome in the context menu that opens up and select properties here.
  4. Append both parameters at the end of the Target field. Make sure there is a blank inbetween. The target field should end like this afterwards:  chrome.exe" /high-dpi-support=1 /force-device-scale-factor=1
  5. Click ok to make the change.

When you restart Chrome afterwards, it will use the parameters and should display fine and without issues.

Fix 2: chrome://flags

disable-directwrite

You can disable DirectWrite on the chrome://flags page. This forces Chrome to return to the previous renderer.

Here is how you do that:

  1. Load chrome://flags/ in the browser's address bar.
  2. Locate Disable DirectWrite on the page, for instance by hitting F3 to open the on-page search option.
  3. Alternatively, load chrome://flags/#disable-direct-write directly.
  4. Click on the disable link, this turns it off.
  5. Restart Chrome.

The issue should be fixed now.

Fix 3: Set the DPI setting to 100%

The third and final option is to set the DPI setting to 100% instead of the value that you have set. Doing so will however impact all windows and interface elements on the system, not just Chrome.

Here is how you do that:

  1. While on the desktop of the operating system, right-click on a blank spot and select Screen Resolution from the context menu.
  2. On the window that opens up, select "Make text and other items larger or smaller".
  3. Switch the setting from the value it is set to, to 100% default.
  4. You need to log off and on again, or restart the computer before the change takes effect.

This article was first seen on ComTek's "TekBits" Technology News

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