Anybody had font problems with widescreen monitor?

[FactualFrank]

So about 3 weeks ago, a friend gave me his widescreen monitor, as my square monitor had run it's course.

However, when I read a website - it doesn't matter what it is - some words/letters appear bold compared to the rest of the line.

I've tried all settings such as resolution, restore Windows fonts etc, but it still seems to happen.

Has anybody experienced this before?

I attach a random screenshot of a message on here...

Screenshot_2020-01-09 Mings -.png (4.96 KiB) Viewed 969 times

In the above screenshot, on my monitor, 'Southgate', 'defensive' and 'keeper is playing' all look more bold than the rest of the sentence.

Or is it just my monitor not displaying fonts properly? I don't recollect ever having this problem on my older monitor.

[claretonthecoast1882]

All looks the same to me, but my eyes have never been trusted

[FactualFrank]

Strange that it's only started happening since I changed monitors. It's like the letters in some words are slightly closer together, giving a bold effect.

If I zoom in, the difference is still there, just all words are slightly more bold, as the characters are larger.

[Zlatan]

check the native screen resolution for the monitor and then check if Windows is doing any font smoothing

[FactualFrank]

check the native screen resolution for the monitor and then check if Windows is doing any font smoothing

Clear Type is turned on (it's even worse if I turn it off) and checked all screen resolutions.

[Zlatan]

Clear Type is turned on (it's even worse if I turn it off) and checked all screen resolutions.

check display drivers for your monitor, maybe needs updating

[FactualFrank]

What is strange - the screen grab I did for the OP reads ok.

I've just done another screenshot - loaded the image up, and the text in the image reads fine. Even though it doesn't look fine before I take the screenshot (live viewing).

Bizarre.

[Zlatan]

https://www.askvg.com/fix-bold-blurry-o ... ndows-8-1/

[FactualFrank]

check display drivers for your monitor, maybe needs updating

Yeah I checked that earlier, all up-to-date. The only thing I've changed is the monitor, so it's like it's having a problem displaying fonts properly.

[Zlatan]

what cable are you using to connect the monitor? VGA DVI etc...?

[Zlatan]

http://alienryderflex.com/sub_pixel/

[FactualFrank]

what cable are you using to connect the monitor? VGA DVI etc...?

VGA, but it's the same sort I connected my other monitor, so I highly doubt that's the problem.

[Zlatan]

VGA, but it's the same sort I connected my other monitor, so I highly doubt that's the problem.

VGA use an analogue signal, so it may very well be your problem. Do you have a DVI cable or ports to try with?

[FactualFrank]

VGA use an analogue signal, so it may very well be your problem. Do you have a DVI cable or ports to try with?

It's the same cable I used for my last monitor, I simply swapped it to my new monitor as they both use VGA. I'm 99% sure it's not that, as it doesn't use any other cables.

I've just reinstalled all the common fonts into Windows, which hasn't made a difference.

It's either my eyes (although if that were the case, then the screenshots I've taken wouldn't read correctly either), or it's the monitor. As there wasn't a problem until I changed.

[FactualFrank]

I'm just looking again closely - some words when I read them definitely have their characters ever so slightly closer together. The spacing between the letters in some words and others isn't consistent.

[Zlatan]

check that display resolution etc is all set to 100% (recommended) and that the native display resolution is used, then check this...

https://www.bing.com/search?q=change%20 ... &mkt=en-US

[FactualFrank]

check that display resolution etc is all set to 100% (recommended) and that the native display resolution is used, then check this...

https://www.bing.com/search?q=change%20 ... &mkt=en-US

Resolution has all been checked. I've just gone into the registry to manually change DPI Scaling (Windows 10 seemed to have removed that option), and then rebooted. It may have helped a bit, but then again I might be imagining it!

Will go about buying a 'square' monitor as it was fine before.

[Tricky Trevor]

Is this purely a monitor problem? Have you printed a test page?
Strange that your screen print is as normal.

[FactualFrank]

Is this purely a monitor problem? Have you printed a test page?
Strange that your screen print is as normal.

Yeah. If I zoom in to a page, it doesn't look as bad (even though there's still a difference), although some words definitely appear to have characters ever so slightly closer together than other words - which explains why some words appear bold compared to the others.

For instance, in my above paragraph 'page' seem closer together than 'although' and appears slightly darker than the word 'although'.

[aggi]

It's the same cable I used for my last monitor, I simply swapped it to my new monitor as they both use VGA. I'm 99% sure it's not that, as it doesn't use any other cables.

I've just reinstalled all the common fonts into Windows, which hasn't made a difference.

It's either my eyes (although if that were the case, then the screenshots I've taken wouldn't read correctly either), or it's the monitor. As there wasn't a problem until I changed.

I'd certainly change the cable if both computer and monitor can use HDMI/DVI/DisplayPort. The higher the resolution (and I'm assuming this monitor is higher resolution than your old one) the less VGA can cope.

[FactualFrank]

I'd certainly change the cable if both computer and monitor can use HDMI/DVI/DisplayPort. The higher the resolution (and I'm assuming this monitor is higher resolution than your old one) the less VGA can cope.

I've changed resolutions but it doesn't make a difference.

[aggi]

I've changed resolutions but it doesn't make a difference.

Using at a non-native resolution will give you issues as well. Switching the cable would be the very first thing I'd do.

[FactualFrank]

Using at a non-native resolution will give you issues as well. Switching the cable would be the very first thing I'd do.

I've changed the cable and tried another - no difference. But not sure how that would have made a difference anyway.

If I browse with my phone, everything reads as it should. There's no difference in how the words/letters/fonts look.

Because it was fine before I changed monitors, it does seem to be down to the monitor display. I've ordered another monitor, so will see if that makes any difference.

[aggi]

I've changed the cable and tried another - no difference. But not sure how that would have made a difference anyway.

If I browse with my phone, everything reads as it should. There's no difference in how the words/letters/fonts look.

Because it was fine before I changed monitors, it does seem to be down to the monitor display. I've ordered another monitor, so will see if that makes any difference.

You've changed it to another VGA cable or switched to HDMI/DVI?

[FactualFrank]

Ok, just tried the resolution again, which seems to have helped (but not totally fixed - the font still look faint on some letters). I've changed it from: 1600x900 (which is recommended) to: 1440x900.

I can only assume when I changed monitors, the change in resolution for some reason or other is the reason why it's not displaying correctly.

[FactualFrank]

For anybody interested, my new monitor arrived today (square, as opposed to widescreen), and the problem seems to have been sorted. All text consistent, as it should be.

So it looks like it was something to do with the other monitor.