How to Enable or Disable Font Smoothing in Windows


Font smoothing is used by default in Windows to make the jagged edges of text look smoother and more readable.

This tutorial will show you how to enable or disable font smoothing for your account in Windows 7, Windows 8, and Windows 10.


For a Windows 11 version of this tutorial, see:

Enable or Disable Font Smoothing in Windows 11



Contents

  • Option One: Enable or Disable Font Smoothing in Visual Effects Performance Options
  • Option Two: Enable or Disable Font Smoothing using a REG file



EXAMPLE: Font smoothing enabled and disabled

Click/tap on image to see full size.

Enable or Disable Font Smoothing in Windows-font_smoothing_enabled.png Enable or Disable Font Smoothing in Windows-font_smoothing_disabled.png






OPTION ONE

Enable or Disable Font Smoothing in Visual Effects Performance Options


1. Press the Win+R keys to open Run, type SystemPropertiesPerformance.exe into Run, and click/tap on OK to directly open to the Visual Effects tab in Performance Options

2. Check (enable - default) or uncheck (disable) Smooth edges of screen fonts for what you want, and click/tap on OK. (see screenshot below)

Enable or Disable Font Smoothing in Windows-smooth_edges_of_screen_fonts.png






OPTION TWO

Enable or Disable Font Smoothing using a REG file



The downloadable .reg files below will modify the string value in the registry key below.

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Desktop

FontSmoothing string value

0 = Disable
2 = Enable


1. Do step 2 (enable) or step 3 (disable) below for what you would like to do.


 2. To Enable Font Smoothing

This is the default setting.

A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the REG file below, and go to step 4 below.

Enable_Smooth_edges_of_screen_fonts.reg

Download


 3. To Disable Font Smoothing

A) Click/tap on the Download button below to download the REG file below, and go to step 4 below.

Disable_Smooth_edges_of_screen_fonts.reg

Download

4. Save the .reg file to your desktop.

5. Double click/tap on the downloaded .reg file to merge it.

6. When prompted, click/tap on Run, Yes (UAC), Yes, and OK to approve the merge.

7. Restart the explorer process or sign out and sign in to apply.

8. You can now delete the downloaded .reg file if you like.


That's it,
Shawn Brink


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