Updated July 2008
Looks like this problem is happening more frequently and starting to happen for people’s entire system and not just their browser. Let me first tell you why this is happening and then offer a few solutions.
You are experiencing this because you have a high resolution computer and the manufacturer is worried that the high resolution will result in you straining to see things on the screen. Silly. The good news is that it probably can be fixed. Let’s try the easiest solution first.
Right click on the desktop and select “Properties” from the menu.
Select "Properties"
Then select the “Settings” tab and then click on the “Advanced” button near the bottom right.
Select the Settings tab and the Advanced button
Now in the display dialog window use the drop-down menu to change your DPI setting. Now reboot your computer and see if that fixed the problem.
Change the DPI setting
I use Firefox almost exclusively but sometimes i use Internet Explorer. Perhaps a website simply won’t work with Firefox, maybe my Firefox add-ons are preventing a portion of the page to load (every now and then i actually want to see the ads on a page), or maybe i’m checking on a website’s compatibility with IE. Whatever the reason, ever since installing IE7 on a Dell Inspiron 9400 the images in Internet Explorer have been pixelated. The text renders smoothly but not the images. Here’s the fix.
1. Close Internet Explorer and click “Start”.
2. Select “Run” and type in “regedit” without the quotes.
3. In the left hand column click on the plus sign next to “HKEY_CURRENT_USER”.
4. Do the same for Software, Microsoft, and Internet Explorer.
5. Click on “Main” and scroll down on the right side of the window to “UseHR”.
6. Right click on “UseHR” and select “Modify” then change the “value data” to a zero instead of a one.
7. Restart IE and enjoy the non-jagged, newly smoothed web!
Before:
After:
Some people have reported not having the UseHR line in their registry. Try doing a search in the registry for UseHR. Follow steps 1 and 2 and then click on “Edit” and “Find”. Then follow steps 6 and 7.
If the three above solutions did not work to fix your grainy images then you can try adding the UseHR value. Follow the steps above through to where “UseHR” should be. Right click in the right pane of the regedit window. It should say “New.” Mouse over that and then click on “DWORD value” and then name it UseHR. Then follow the rest of the steps.
Please post a comment if these don’t work for you. And if it does fix your problem I’d love a comment also!
Thanks for this fix. I tried for a while, and didn’t think about googling for a fix.
this is a ral nice solution. But the main issue with me was that there is no USEHR line. I have even tried by creating a new line by opening a new reg. edit file DWORD value. its still not working. i’m using Dell Latitude D510 and have each and every driver installed in it. Kindly help me out.
Hiya Ziek, I tried all of the above and still no joy. I have just bought this laptop yesterday and the graphics have been pixelated from the start. I’m quite dissapointed as I sold my desktop to buy it and now my web experience has diminished. I’ll keep trying all sources to see what I can find. Thanks anyway!
Hi
Is this right?:
If you have a high resolution screen, a lot of stuff in XP is too small to be easily seen. You enable 120dpi (for example)in Display Properties’ Advanced settings which enlarges stuff except for images. You enable (or add) the High Resolution registry setting:
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
“UseHR”=dword:00000001
and that enlarges the images. BUT because of a flaw in the image resizing algorithm often this resizing will result in a jagged image in IE7. You can often stop this by changing the zoom (in and out)on each web page but that is a pain. So, what seems like a very good idea (and is implemented by some manufacturers in their hi-res monitor setup files) actually gives you jagged (but larger) images. Is there a solution to this or are we stuck with having to choose between tiny stuff or jagged images in IE7?
Note:
You can make a registry file to change the HR setting to on or off by copying my text and pasting it into a .txt notepad text file. Then change the filename from something.txt to something.reg. Double click the file and it will enter/change the registy setting. This is the turn-off to remove jaggies caused as above:
REGEDIT4
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
“UseHR”=dword:00000000
That works on XP Home & Pro SP3 for me but if it causes your computer to explode… Unlucky!
Can you show sensibly resized stuff on Vista without jaggies?
THANK YOU!!!!! this fixed the problem!
See if you have \Slipstream Accelerator installed\ If so change the properties for image viewing. I tried all the above and realized this goofy program was running in the tray. Not my computer so I don’t know where the program came from. You can also disable the file. The person who had the computer was on a dial up connection so it was great for her.
I have a problem that runs the other way round,
I built my website in MIcrosoft publisher and it works fine with IE but with mozilla the pictures and the text gets pixelated and the website looks trashy.Is there a way to fix it?
I have built my website in Microsoft Publisher and it works fine with IE but in mozilla the pictures and the text get pixelated.Can anybody help me with this?
This is a hacked attempt to fix a nasty problem. A *lot* of web designers are very stubborn about expressing element sizes in pixels — something you should never do, since pixels come in all different sizes (and shapes). When you finally get to a decent resolution (I’d personally like to see 200+dpi), pixel-sized elements are a quarter the size of regular (100dpi) displays. Back in my Microsoft days, a small group of folks tried to sound the rally cry, but folks looked at us like we were crazy.
The other problem, which also often forces people into the pixels-never-change-size camp, is that IE is horrible at image scaling. There was no excuse to do point-sampled image scaling in the mid 90’s, and it’s downright shameful in 2008.
Instead of the UseHR hack, Microsoft should first $%#@!-slap the vast majority of web designers and their tools, and second, implement high-quality image re-scaling in browser windows.
Sweet, that totally worked. I thought it would be a long shot to google a solution for my problem, but I can finally enjoy non-pixelated images again. Thanks!
just to let peeps know if you dont have usehr and add it yourself you have to restart comp to get it work as wasnt workin for me but turned comp on today and its perfect thank you tons dude
SWEET! I mostly use Firefox, but like you, occasionally have to use IE and have always been bothered by the pixelated images but too lazy to do anything about it. Thanks for the super easy fix!
hey..i am struggling with the same issue to since last few days…
i tried all the above solutions…but still not able to solve the issue…
i changed dpi settings, also added UseHR in the directory
.changed the figure to 0..but still no solution…
kindly..help..i have a lenovo 9QQ..
ever since i downloaded ie7 i am facing this problem..and worst part is that the case is still the same with firefox and chrome…so HELPP PLSSS
well it worked since my last post but now my graphics gone back pixelated oh well pile of poo :(
Fixed my problem! I’m using Sprint’s EVDO and thought I was facing a server-side image compression issue, but it was just the DPI setting. Thanks for the tip!
just today, my IE and MOZILLA got broke. The solutions above didn’t work. I’m so sad as to what happened with my IE and Mozilla. Any solutions besides that? please… Is this because of the updates? thnx a lot
Yes, Aaron Kim, if both IE and Firefox change to pixelated images it probably was an update that was installed on your computer. Sounds like a universal setting. But if the things above didn’t work I don’t know where you should start.
[...] Ryan McFarland at ziek.com [...]
I have had this problem (in IE but not in FF) for at least a year. I had searched (with the wrong keywords) and asked around (to the wrong people), but I didn’t look too hard since I use FF almost exclusively. Finally, I had a job that couldn’t use FF and had one of the auto-resized pictures covering a critical button in IE, and so I became serious in my quest. I was used to the font size with the 120 DPI setting on my 1680×1050 resolution, but the UseHR registry change worked like a charm. I don’t have fuzzy pictures in IE anymore! Yay!!
Folks don’t forget about “Ctrl + middle mouse wheel” or if no mouse Ctrl and + or _ to adjust the zoom of the IE page!
Also in the status bar, above the clock you should see a Magnify Glass. If it is not at 100% this can cause the issue.
Also, by going down to 80 or 60% magnification will do the same as all the above tricks.
My wifes Acer fried itself after 2 years so we had to borrow a friends Dell… She has become used to the High DPi settings so None of these options will work for me. If I fix the pixalation, she complains the fonts are too small…
Someone told me Windows.com has a powertoy you can download to adjust font size… hope it works!
Anything under max resolution on the Dell is a complete blur. Thank you dell for charging High end for low end monitors!