Occasional blurry icons in Windows 11 that won’t go away with a fresh Windows install

Resolving Persistent Blurry Icons in Windows 11: A Technical Overview

Introduction

Many Windows 11 users encounter visual inconsistencies, such as blurry icons, which can significantly impact the user experience. This issue becomes particularly perplexing when standard troubleshooting steps fail to resolve it. In this article, we will explore a specific case of intermittent icon blurriness affecting dual-monitor setups, analyze potential causes, and present effective troubleshooting strategies.

Scenario Overview

The user operates a dual-monitor configuration with both displays set to 1080p resolution—one external monitor connected via a dedicated GPU (NVIDIA RTX 4060) and the laptop’s built-in display utilizing integrated Intel graphics. The setup includes always-visible taskbars on both screens.

Problem Description

Upon system boot, and during subsequent restarts or shutdowns followed by quick reboots, certain icons—most notably the WhatsApp icon in the taskbar and within the search interface—appear blurry only on the external monitor.
The blurriness persists regardless of:
Clearing the icon cache
Restarting Windows Explorer
Adjusting scaling settings via Windows and NVIDIA Control Panel
An unusual pattern emerges:
Booting into Safe Mode temporarily restores high-resolution icons, but causes the external monitor’s refresh rate to limit to 120Hz instead of 180Hz.
Restarting from Safe Mode restores the optimal refresh rate (180Hz), but the icons become blurry again.
Extensive driver reinstallation using Display Driver Uninstaller (DDU), Windows reinstallation, and hardware resets have failed to resolve the issue.

Additional Observations

A peculiar aspect is that after logging off at the end of the day and waiting approximately 10 hours, normal icon clarity is restored upon reboot. This suggests a possible timing or temperature-related factor impacting system behavior.

System Details

GPU: NVIDIA RTX 4060 (external display)
Integrated GPU: Intel Graphics (laptop display)
Windows 11 version: [Insert Version Here]

Troubleshooting & Potential Solutions

Display Scaling and DPI Settings
Ensure consistent DPI scaling across both monitors. Mismatched scaling can cause rendering issues.
Try resetting to the recommended scaling, or explicitly set scaling for each monitor and observe effects.
Refresh Rate and Display Settings
Test different refresh rates systematically, noting when icon clarity improves or deteriorates.
Use custom resolutions or override settings through NVIDIA Control Panel if necessary.