I tried the same process on my monitor at home. It seemed to improve instantly. Perhaps not 100% but very much improved. Or maybe it's placebo. I'll post back here with my results later.
Windows 10 Anniversary Edition
- Edited
Gurm Glad to hear it. Definitely test over several days.
I can try upgrading again, although I'm loathe to do so as it wastes a morning especially if I have to revert.
You may want to consider adopting one of my life rules as a sensitized person: If something works for you/does not cause you any pain, DO NOT CHANGE IT UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY
Yes, this means giving up on being on the cutting edge of anything. But the trade off is worth it is you reduce the amount of pain you need to suffer with. I was using Windows XP up until the day MS expired support for it. I have 7 now and I'm not touching it until 2020 when MS ends security patches.
5 days later
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I am experiencing less eyestrain using Firefox. The effect appears quickly and the comfort difference is noticeable when switching between windows.
a month later
Windows 10 LTSB 2015 works great, too. It's a pre-anniversary build. I can even use Chrome on it without problems, which is very strange.
5 days later
Yes, I may install LTSB 2015 because it won't force updates like the standards builds do. So far I've managed to keep most of my machines on pre-anniversary builds. I can use most of them for long periods of time. But I have two identical machines in my home lab, both are Dell small-form-factor 7010's. The ONLY difference between them is the OS build, and the difference on my eyes is night and day!
LTSB 2015 doesn't come with the Edge browser. What happens when you install it?
I ask this because MS has a habit of changing system libraries when you install newer versions of Office or IE.
14 days later
I have noticed the adaptive brightness in windows 10 can cause bad eyestrain. Have anyone checked whether in windows 10 after the anniversary update it doesnt get automatically turned back on, thus creating the eyestrain in anniversary?
That would be a good thought - if we were talking about laptops. Adaptive Brightness is never enabled on desktops with no light sensors...
12 days later
I recently installed a pre-anniversary windows 10 (version 1507 build number 10240.16384) on a new desktop alongside a windows 7. So dual OS on the same machine. I cannot use the windows 10 for over 10 minutes while the windows 7 works just fine. Not sure what is going on.
7 days later
Jerry Windows 10 is always going to be inferior. Things to try:
- Make sure the ICC color profile is right. This matters a LOT.
- Make sure you're using good drivers. You didn't say what video card you have, but the Windows 10 version of, for example, Intel Integrated drivers is BAD. I purposely downgrade it to a mid-2015 level.
Card driver shouldn't be an issue for that card.
- Edited
Jerry I've just purchased a basic Acer desktop with a GT730 installed and W10 Home Premium - It's unusable.
I decided to install a copy of W7 and intentionally looked for an early driver which supports this card (circa 2014).
After considerable time on this machine I'm having no luck. There is visible dithering/flickering of some sort happening. The contrast/white levels, even on Windows 7 just seem more 'harsh white' than my 2009 Intel GMA HD machine. I've downloaded a display profile for my display (Dell U2414h) and while it made a difference in the colour balance, didn't change the flickering/harshness of the screen.
They've also blocked the extra HDMI ports on the motherboard, so I'm assuming only the discrete graphics will work on this PC.
Jerry, did you find a driver for Windows 7 that works for you?
diop My driver version is "361.43-desktop-win8-win7-winvista-64bit-international-whql". It works fine for me. I downloaded it a few months ago from nVidia. You can easily find a download link thru google. Try it. The cable I am currently using is dvi-to-dvi. Not sure if HDMI will make a difference.
I have not yet got a chance to retest the pre-anniversary windows 10 per Gurm's suggestion. Hopefully this weekend.
Pre-anniversary Windows 10 is definitely... worse... than Windows 7. But not unusable ... for me. Might be for you.
2 months later
Not sure what happened, but yesterday I used my Windows 10 LTSB 2015 for some time after some new upgrades had been installed, and afterwards I was pretty much dead the whole day. When I woke up, I had headaches and my eyes were dry and hurt.
15 days later
KM, I was afraid that would happen. Even in the LTSB they are sneaking in whatever changes they made to support composition spaces and the creator's update. 
3 months later
With Windows 7 support ending in 2020, and many of us ok under Windows 7 but not Windows 10 1607 and later. I've been thinking, may Windows 8.1 be OK to get some us by to 2023 (This case Microsoft doesn't fix Windows 10 by Windows 7 support end date)? I realize this doesn't help any of you at work but maybe for home users it might be worth looking at. I'm going to give it a shot myself because I am worried that MS will not fix this issue, and security updates until 2023 would be amazing.
I'll report my results in a few weeks.
degen
IIRC you should be able to use Win7 drivers in Win8 without any problems.
It seems the colour reproduction is 'off' in Windows 10 - it seems ever so slightly whiter than the usual milky white in Windows 7 and previous versions. In my work using Excel for approx 8 hours a day, switching from a W10 system to W7 was night and day difference. The black text and white contrast is much softer, maybe W10 renders fonts differently but the black on white is much more intense.
Hopefully by the time 2020 comes around new display types will start coming through. Until then in theory with more and more people using these problem devices, complaints due to dithering/PWM etc should gain ground.