[nrc]

For Firefox at least, this is probably because you are not using DirectWrite - that in turn is probably because you are not getting D3D10 (you are probably using D3D9 or no hardware acceleration), the usual cause of this is due to out of date drivers or black-listed hardware. You can check what hardware acceleration you get in the graphics section of about:support.

If you are not getting HWA, you can try forcing it on by setting 'layers.acceleration.force-enabled' to true in about:config (I would do that in a throw away profile though because it might crash Firefox; that overrides the black list).

[avodonosov]

  Graphics

  Adapter Description	NVIDIA GeForce GT 230M
  Adapter Drivers	nvd3dumx,nvwgf2umx,nvwgf2umx nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
  Adapter RAM	1024
  ClearType Parameters	DISPLAY1 [ Gamma: 2200 Pixel Structure: RGB ClearType Level: 100 Enhanced Contrast: 200 ] DISPLAY2 [ Gamma: 2200 Pixel Structure: RGB ClearType Level:   100 Enhanced Contrast: 200 ]
  Device ID	0x0a28
  Direct2D Enabled	Blocked for your graphics driver version. Try updating your graphics driver to version 257.21 or newer.
  DirectWrite Enabled	false (6.2.9200.16571)
  Driver Date	7-23-2009
  Driver Version	8.15.11.8644
  GPU #2 Active	false
  GPU Accelerated Windows	0/1 Basic Blocked for your graphics driver version. Try updating your graphics driver to version 257.21 or newer.
  Vendor ID	0x10de
  WebGL Renderer	Blocked for your graphics driver version. Try updating your graphics driver to version 257.21 or newer.
  windowLayerManagerRemote	false
  AzureCanvasBackend	skia
  AzureContentBackend	none
  AzureFallbackCanvasBackend	cairo
  AzureSkiaAccelerated	0

[taspeotis]

    Driver Date	7-23-2009

When will users learn to upgrade their drivers properly?

EDIT: For everybody who thinks this should be easy, what's the latest version of the NVIDIA drivers on Windows Update? Is it not "version 257.21 or newer"?

[RussianCow]

To be fair, I think the better question is when will driver vendors learn to have their drivers update automatically? Checking to see if your drivers are up-to-date and installing new ones is a tedious process, and I shouldn't have to do it just to have a usable machine.

[taspeotis]

http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia-update.html

> I shouldn't have to do it just to have a usable machine.

The complaint isn't that Chrome and Firefox don't work.

[WoodenChair]

Yet another technical step that users should learn to do? Computers should work for users, not users for computers. When will operating system manufacturers learn to not make users think (about things they shouldn't have to care about).

[jamesaguilar]

As long as users don't explicitly disable windows update, I think this should work fine in the background.

[avodonosov]

Updated driver. The text is still rendered the same - zigzags instead of lines.

Now about:support shows

  Graphics

  Adapter Description	NVIDIA GeForce GT 230M
  Adapter Drivers	nvd3dumx,nvwgf2umx,nvwgf2umx nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
  Adapter RAM	1024
  ClearType Parameters	DISPLAY1 [ Gamma: 2200 Pixel Structure: RGB ClearType Level: 100 Enhanced Contrast: 200 ] DISPLAY2 [ Gamma: 2200 Pixel Structure: RGB ClearType Level: 100 Enhanced Contrast: 200 ]
  Device ID	0x0a28
  Direct2D Enabled	true
  DirectWrite Enabled	true (6.2.9200.16571)
  Driver Date	12-19-2013
  Driver Version	9.18.13.3221
  GPU #2 Active	false
  GPU Accelerated Windows	1/1 Direct3D 10
  Vendor ID	0x10de
  WebGL Renderer	Google Inc. -- ANGLE (NVIDIA GeForce GT 230M Direct3D9Ex vs_3_0 ps_3_0)
  windowLayerManagerRemote	false
  AzureCanvasBackend	direct2d
  AzureContentBackend	direct2d
  AzureFallbackCanvasBackend	cairo
  AzureSkiaAccelerated	0

So, DirectWrite is on now.

[avodonosov]

A commenter in my blog suggested to ensure ClearType is enablied in Windows settings - and indeed, I found ClearType disabled. After enabling ClearType the fonts look good in FF and Chrome.

The commenter explained that "IE uses it's own version of Cleartype regardless of system settings, while Firefox and Chrome correctly adhere to your system settings."

[sp332]

Assuming you have 64-bit Windows, install this: http://www.nvidia.com/content/DriverDownload-March2009/confi...