Completely Disable Font Smoothing and ClearType in Windows 7

Keen on disabling Font Smoothing and ClearType in Windows 7?

Here is a list of actions that i have found will remove the annoying Font Smoothing from *almost* all areas in Win7. I have found that some applications Title Bars still appear a little blurry...but the text you'll be looking at most should be better.

Remove Font Smoothing and ClearType for IE9 

For a good explanation of whats going on here, look at this post on Stack Overflow.

Quick steps:

1. Turn Off ClearType

a) Run 'regedit' and change the value of the following registry key

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
"UseClearType"="no"

2. Disable FontSmoothing

This requires a bit of work but its all been wrapped together for you by and the Software Ninjas.

Remove Font Smoothing and ClearType for the Win7 O/S

The general problem is due to the font that the Operating System uses, which is Segoe UI Size 9. You want to change this to a font you like. I choose "Tahoma" Size 8 because thats what Windows XP uses and it looks crisp!

You will not need to delete any fonts! However, please ensure that you Backup Your Registry before making any changes via RegEdit.

1. Disable ClearType

a) Control Panel->Fonts-> "Adjust ClearType text" and unchecking “Turn on ClearType”.

OR

b) Run 'regedit' and change the value of the following registry key from 2 to 1:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop]  "FontSmoothingType"=dword:00000001

2. Disable Font Smoothing

a) Control Panel > System > Advanced system settings > Performance Settings > Visual Effects. Uncheck "Smooth edges of screen fonts"

OR

b) Run 'regedit' and change the value of the following registry key from 2 to 1: [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop] "FontSmoothing"="1"

3. Change window elements fonts.

a) Control Panel > Personalize > Window Color > Advanced appearance settings and change all fonts from Segoe UI to any other font. If you like the look of Windows XP then choose "Tahoma" Size 8 for all elements by default.

OR

b) Note that these settings are stored in the following registry path:

[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop\WindowMetrics]

4. Trick the O/S to believe that it has no Segoe UI font

a) Run 'regedit' and delete the value of the following registry key (so there is just an empty string as the value): [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts]

"Segoe UI (TrueType)"=""

"Segoe UI Bold (TrueType)"=""

"Segoe UI Italic (TrueType)"=""

"Segoe UI Bold Italic (TrueType)"=""

To revert it back your changes, the original values are:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Fonts]

"Segoe UI (TrueType)"="segoeui.ttf"

"Segoe UI Bold (TrueType)"="segoeuib.ttf"

"Segoe UI Italic (TrueType)"="segoeuii.ttf"

"Segoe UI Bold Italic (TrueType)"="segoeuiz.ttf"

"Segoe UI Semibold (TrueType)"="seguisb.ttf"

"Segoe UI Light (TrueType)"="segoeuil.ttf"

"Segoe UI Symbol (TrueType)"="seguisym.ttf"

5. Tell the O/S to replace any reference to Segoe UI font with Tahoma (or the font of your choice).

a) Run 'regedit' and delete the value of the following registry key: [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes]

"Segoe UI"="Tahoma"

To Revert back your changes, the original value is:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\FontSubstitutes]

"Segoe UI"=-

5. Restart the computer.

And thats it.

Comments and discussion welcomed...