Fonts in some programs look blurry on a 1920x1080 IPS monitor in Windows 8
I had the same problem, and i fixed it by toggling "Use Windows XP scaling" on and off a couple of times.
Reboot, or log out/in between the changes.
You find the setting as a check-box in:
"Screen Resolution"/"Make text and other items larger or smaller"/"Custom sizing options"/"Use Windows XP scaling"
It was unchecked when i started, and is unchecked now. For some reason it had to be turned on and off again (LOL) to fix this.
High DPI devices, such as 1920x1080 resolution displays require some sort of intervention from the operating system to prevent "ordinary" text from becoming painfully small.
The root cause of the problems is how this is done, and whether the way it does so accomodates legacy programs.
BEST SOLUTION:
For any application that has the problem, right click the executable > Properties > Compatibility tab > uncheck disable scaling for High DPI devices.
That should do it.
An excellent explanation for why is given in this article by The Windows Club: "Blurry Fonts or Text in Windows 8"
BLANKET SOLUTION:
Below is a more global approach that gets you a fix fast across everything. You can then go back and fine-tune when you have time.
On Windows 8, turning off the option "Smooth edges of screen fonts" in the Visual Effects dialog box improves the situation.
Win+R > control > in search box type: visual > System: Adjust the appearance & performance of windows > Visual effects tab > UNCHECK "Smooth edges of screen fonts".
You can see BEFORE and AFTER images below. Computer: Lenovo Ultrabook laptop running Windows 8.1 with a 1920x1080 display. Application: legacy desktop application R Statistical Computing Platform.
BEFORE
AFTER
