cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
etb
Active Contributor

ClearType Text Disabled? - Blocky/Unclear Text

Question

It seems like LogMeIn somehow disables ClearType text in the Windows host.  Is there a way to get it to stop doing that?

 

Background and Testing:

I have always noticed that text viewed through a LogMeIn remote session have seemed less clear/smooth than directly viewing the host's physical monitor.  Historically I chalked this up to compression.  Now that we have all of our users working remotely, I have been getting complaints. 

 

Through a bunch of testing, I found that most things are pretty clear when the network connection is good, the color quality is set to HD, and the host and remote computer resolutions are matched.  An array of single-pixel-wide lines come through clearly without noticeable distortion.  But portions of characters that may be less than a full pixel in size comes through as blocky and/or lacking clarity.

 

I tried all variations of settings that are available (network, color, resolution), and nothing improved this issue.  I tried with the display accelerator enabled and disabled, but it didn't change.  I could not find that LogMeIn offers an option like "font smoothing" or similar like some other products do.

 

I somewhat randomly checked the Windows ClearType Text settings on the host computer, and found that ClearType was disabled.  But it is enabled by default, and I know for sure that I did not disable it.  So it seems that LogMeIn automatically disabled it.  Is there a setting/method that will cause this to stop?

8 REPLIES 8
etb
Active Contributor

Re: ClearType Text Disabled? - Blocky/Unclear Text

Additional data in case it is helpful:  enabling ClearType Text on the host computer does not persist.  Even if I maintain the active LMI session and only log out of the Windows user account and log back in, ClearType Text is disabled again.  I have not found any method or combination of settings that can correct this.

 

So I'm still needing a way for it to be that the ClearType Text setting won't be overwritten and disabled as a result of using LMI.

Anon3141
New Contributor

Re: ClearType Text Disabled? - Blocky/Unclear Text

I experienced the same problem as you. 

 

Today, I suddenly realised that ClearType Text is linked with the Performance Preferences of Logmein. The setting "Disable wallpaper and user interface effects on host computer" is on by default. If you use Logmein Central, you can switch this setting globally by turning off "Automatically disable wallpaper" under the Remote Control category

 

If you untick this preference, ClearType Text works and is not "disabled" each time you login. But, of course, the remote experience is a bit slower, with wallpaper and window transition effects.

 

There does not seem a way to have ClearType Text to be ON on it own. Maybe, that is a feature request for Logmein developers.

 

 

 

SterlingAZ
New Contributor

Re: ClearType Text Disabled? - Blocky/Unclear Text


@Anon3141 wrote:

I experienced the same problem as you. 

 

Today, I suddenly realised that ClearType Text is linked with the Performance Preferences of Logmein. The setting "Disable wallpaper and user interface effects on host computer" is on by default. If you use Logmein Central, you can switch this setting globally by turning off "Automatically disable wallpaper" under the Remote Control category

 

If you untick this preference, ClearType Text works and is not "disabled" each time you login. But, of course, the remote experience is a bit slower, with wallpaper and window transition effects.

 

There does not seem a way to have ClearType Text to be ON on it own. Maybe, that is a feature request for Logmein developers.

 

 

 


This is a bug in my opinion. ClearType should be toggled back on after a session ends

etb
Active Contributor

Re: ClearType Text Disabled? - Blocky/Unclear Text

Sorry it took me so long to get back to this.  I did see Anon3141's post, and I can confirm that ClearType is not disabled for computers where "Disable wallpaper and user interface effects on host computer" is not enabled.  Thanks, Anon3141.

 

I agree that ClearType really should be able to be left on even if wallpaper and user interface effects are off.  I'm guessing that ClearType probably uses a nominal amount more processing and bandwidth.  No one really "needs" a fancy wallpaper or to see window contents while dragging, etc, and those items probably do use an appreciable amount more processing/bandwidth.  But if a user has to really strain to read text (without ClearType), that becomes a bad solution.

 

LogMeIn Staff - Will you make changes to allow ClearType to stay on even if "Disable wallpaper and user interface effects on host computer" is selected?

AshC
Retired GoTo Contributor

Re: ClearType Text Disabled? - Blocky/Unclear Text

@etb @SterlingAZ @Anon3141  Are you able to confirm if the affected users have multi-GPU setups on their host PCs?


Ash is a member of the LastPass Community Care Team.

Was your question answered? Please mark it as an Accepted Solution.
Was a post helpful or informative? Give it a Kudo!
etb
Active Contributor

Re: ClearType Text Disabled? - Blocky/Unclear Text

Hi @AshC ,

 

Thank you for working on this.  Sorry that I am not getting back to you sooner - it looks like the email notification alerting me to your reply was not sent to me until today.  And since about 3:00pm today, I have been getting errors when trying to post this reply.

 

If you define "multi-GPU setups" to mean "2 or more discrete graphics cards in 1 computer", then none of our host PC's have multi-GPU setups.

 

Many of our host PC's do have 1 discrete graphics card along with the Intel integrated graphics.  But I can confirm that this issue affects all of our host PC's - including host PC's which only have integrated graphics.

AshC
Retired GoTo Contributor

Re: ClearType Text Disabled? - Blocky/Unclear Text

Thank you. We are still trying to replicate this behavior internally for a fix.


Ash is a member of the LastPass Community Care Team.

Was your question answered? Please mark it as an Accepted Solution.
Was a post helpful or informative? Give it a Kudo!
Anon3141
New Contributor

Re: ClearType Text Disabled? - Blocky/Unclear Text

Hi @AshC , there is no multi GPU setups on any of our host PCs. Just using the in-built Intel graphics.

 

@etb , you can further speed up the remote experience by turning off "Show animations in Windows" and "Show transparency in Windows". Both of these settings can be found in Windows 10 Settings, Ease of Access.