Some Applications' Fonts are too Small

I recently started using a Surface Book (This doesn't appear to be happening on my Win10 desktop). An application had text so small it was impossible to read, even when outputting to a large display:

I tried changing the font size in settings, and running sfc /scannow to check for corrupted system files, but neither fixed the issue.

I also considered that it was just the one program, but after encountering this on another application, I realized - after some research - this is a problem with Windows 8 apps running on Windows 10, but only on specific displays or possibly display settings.

This is probably happening for all surface users, as well as other laptops. [Source]

Solution 1:

I fixed the problem following steps 1. and 2. of @Travis but changing in step 3. So:

1. Make sure the application is running

2. Right-click on the icon in the task bar > properties

3. Tick Override high DPI scaling behaviour. Scaling performed by: and then select System (enhanced).

Solution 2:

It took quite some time to dig up the solution on the Microsoft Message boards, so I figured I'd go ahead and post the question & answer for anyone else that may need it.

1. Make sure the application is running

2. Right-click on the icon in the task bar > properties

The SAS Enterprise Miner software is a special case. After right-clicking the icon I had to right-click on the Java Web Launcher to get to the Properties.

3. Go to the compatibility tab > Disable display scaling on high DPI settings

4. Restart the application

5. The text should be a readable size now.

Note: I have a feeling there is another setting to fix this problem without having to do this for every application affected by it, although I have not found that answer yet.