Hardware Acceleration in Firefox 27 worked fine in XP but creates problems in W7. Any solution?
I upgraded recently to Windows 7 from XP (thanks to MS stopping to support XP). Hardware remains the same. Drivers are up-to-date. I installed Firefox 27 from the beginning. In Windows XP I had font smoothing on, same with Windows 7. In Windows XP I had no idea of ClearType, I've turned it off in Windows 7. In Windows 7, I've selected Tahoma as the font for windows (not that Segoe UI "font"). About Firefox. In XP I had hardware acceleration on (box checked). All fonts were smooth and no problems at all. In Windows7 when hardware acceleration is on, some kind of ghosting appears in all letters over 14 or 16 px (like in the results titles or search field in google) and all bold letters. But fonts like in www.adventuregamers.com or support.mozilla.org look fine. If I turn hardware acceleration off (box unchecked) I solve the problem with ghosting but letters like in www.adventuregamers.com or support.mozilla.org appear "broken", as if some letters aren't thick enough and they look "lighter". I could post some screenshots if that would help.
I tried all solutions I found here, including changing some settings about gfx.content.azure.enabled or gfx.direct2d.disabled in about:config, starting FF in safe mode/basic theme, but with no luck.
Any ideas?
Chosen solution
Workarround: Run FF in Windowx XP SP3 Compatibility Mode. For Adobe Flash Crashing add "ProtectedMode=0" in "Windows/System32/Macromed/Flash/mms.cfg" (edit with notepad). Everything runs perfect so far, only the |-| _| x| buttons appear as in XP. No problems noticed so far.
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Ghosting lettering? [some kind of ghosting appears in all letters over 14 or 16 px (like in the results titles or search field in google) and all bold letters.] Whoa.) What does that look like?
Please see if this is an enhancement from one of your plug ins or add ons. You can check the add ons by starting the browser in safe mode. Hold the control + shift then click on the Firefox icon to start the browser in safe mode.
Modified by guigs
First of all, thanks for taking the time to check the post and to post a possible solution. I tried safe mode but it's like HW acceleration is off every time (even if the box is checked). Safe mode didn't change anything. Take a look at these pics. You'll see what I mean.
See also Anti-Aliasing Tuner
Thanks for your reply too cor-el. Unfortunately, I had tried this add-on before posting the problem and didn't help. I was thinking whether windows cleartype messes with firefox in a way (even if it's dissabled in Windows). Or maybe there's a nVidia cleartype hidden option somewhere...
Did you check the (advanced) settings in your graphics display driver software?
Yes. I have a nVidia 9800GT card. I searched everywhere in the nVidia panel but there are no smoothing/cleartype settings... I just don't understand why it worked perfectly smooth in XP and with 7 it's so mixed up...
Funny thing is that Steam's browser for example, shows both pages in my example correct! Btw, I checked all the gfx.font settings comparing an XP and W7 installation and no luck yet... One more thing I noticed. When I run FF in Windows XP compatibility mode all fonts are perfect again. Unfortunately adobe shockwave and flash crash in that mode...
Modified by scorp18
Finally I got to understand the root of the problem. In XP there was an option of Standard or ClearType anti-aliasing. I had Standard on. In W7 there's ClearType or nothing. That's the problem... However, Safari gives its users the option to use Windows Standard anti-aliasing. I just hope that FF will consider this and give us this option too. =) Unless I find a way to add Standard anti-aliasing in W7 too
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Workarround: Run FF in Windowx XP SP3 Compatibility Mode. For Adobe Flash Crashing add "ProtectedMode=0" in "Windows/System32/Macromed/Flash/mms.cfg" (edit with notepad). Everything runs perfect so far, only the |-| _| x| buttons appear as in XP. No problems noticed so far.