Computer look messed up

[ukerin]

I am not sure which forum is the correct one to post this so I jut thought this would be the best.Today when I turned on my computer the look of it had totally changed.By that I mean everthing is smaller .I mean everthing from size to desk top wallpaper size .Is this a Vista issue or did I just click something by mistake and how do I fix it?

 

[Brink]

Hi ukerin,

You might see if your screen resolution was increased. That will make everything smaller.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/84291-screen-resolution.html

Shawn

 

[chumplet]

hmm, sounds like your video resolution got changed somehow.

right-click on the desktop (anywhere there's no icon) and choose personalize from the context menu. choose display settings and move the resolution slider to the left. you may have to play around with it a little to get the resolution you want unless you know where it should be set.

keep in mind, if you have a flat panel monitor it may look really bad outside of it's 'native resolution'.


EDIT: i'm too slow on the draw...

 

[ukerin]

hmm, sounds like your video resolution got changed somehow.

right-click on the desktop (anywhere there's no icon) and choose personalize from the context menu. choose display settings and move the resolution slider to the left. you may have to play around with it a little to get the resolution you want unless you know where it should be set.

keep in mind, if you have a flat panel monitor it may look really bad outside of it's 'native resolution'.


EDIT: i'm too slow on the draw...

The slder was already to the left as far as it would go.Nothing changed desktop wall paper is still not covering entire screen like normal.

 

[chumplet]

it's already to the left as far as it will go? what are the numbers directly below the slider position? (e.g. 800 by 600 pixels, 1024 by 768 pixels, etc)

also, you say the desktop wallpaper doesn't fill the entire screen but can you move your mouse pointer out of the area filled by the wallpaper background?

how about desktop icons, are they the same size they've always been or smaller?

 

[ukerin]

also, you say the desktop wallpaper doesn't fill the entire screen but can you move your mouse pointer out of the area filled by the wallpaper background?

how about desktop icons, are they the same size they've always been or smaller?

1688 by1050.Yes the mouse moves like normal.Desktop icons are much smaller then normal.

 

[Brink]

ukerin,

Are you able to manually change the desktop icons sizes to make them larger?

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/61412-desktop-icon-size.html

Shawn

 

[chumplet]

1688 by1050.Yes the mouse moves like normal.Desktop icons are much smaller then normal.

i just want to make sure we're talking about moving the slider to the left? it can't possibly be that the lowest resolution you can get is 1688x1050. do you have slider option to the right?

 

[ukerin]

1688 by1050.Yes the mouse moves like normal.Desktop icons are much smaller then normal.

i just want to make sure we're talking about moving the slider to the left? it can't possibly be that the lowest resolution you can get is 1688x1050. do you have slider option to the right?

Sorry I typed it wrong it is actually 1680x1050 sorry for the mix up.

 

[chumplet]

Sorry I typed it wrong it is actually 1680x1050 sorry for the mix up.

oh no, that's fine ukerin. 1680x1050 is a fairly typical MAX (and native) resolution for alot of 19"-22" wide screen flat panel lcd's.

i just want to verify again that your resolution slider cannot move to the left (<---). do you have any options to the right on the slider?

 

[ukerin]

Sorry I typed it wrong it is actually 1680x1050 sorry for the mix up.

oh no, that's fine ukerin. 1680x1050 is a fairly typical MAX (and native) resolution for alot of 19"-22" wide screen flat panel lcd's.

i just want to verify again that your resolution slider cannot move to the left (<---). do you have any options to the right on the slider?

I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer as they say lol.The slider has been all the way over to my right side but when I move it still lookss weird.

 

[ukerin]

I just tried to shnge the DPI SETTINGS THINKING THAT WOULD WOULD BUT IT JUST MAD EVERYTHINK TEXT ,ICONS ETC HUGE.

 

[chumplet]

I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer as they say lol.The slider has been all the way over to my right side but when I move it still lookss weird.

haha, i figured it was to the right but just wanted to make sure.

to the left (and underneath) the slider you will see a number of 'ticks' ( | ). move the slider to the left one tick and press the 'apply' button in the bottom right. windows will then resize your desktop and prompt you on whether or not to keep it. press 'cancel' in the pop-up dialogue box and try the next one down if you don't like it. keep doing that until you find the resolution that looks best to you.

best of luck and definitely let us know what happens.

 

[ukerin]

Ok I will try that but.Two questions I am trying to change my DPI setting back to default .Will that fix the problem ?Everything is gigantic now.I have done what it tell me to do but it keeps reverting back to Lager scale.What am I doing wrong?Thanks again for the help and sorry for the confusion.

 

[chumplet]

Ok I will try that but.Two questions I am trying to change my DPI setting back to default .Will that fix the problem ?Everything is gigantic now.I have done what it tell me to do but it keeps reverting back to Lager scale.What am I doing wrong?Thanks again for the help and sorry for the confusion.

well that probably won't help the overall problem but it really should be set back before you start playing with the resolution. right-click on the desktop (anywhere there's not an icon) and choose 'personalization' from the context menu. choose 'adjust font size (DPI)' on the left hand side. click 'default scale (96 DPI)' at the top and hit ok. that should revert your fonts back to their previous size and you can move on from there.

 

[ukerin]

I tried setting DPI scale back to 96 but it I cannot see the word apply to make it stick everything is just long and huge .This may have nothing to do with this but now I cannot check e-mails wants user name and password and I have put them in put it acts like but still nothing.Should I unplug computer then plug it back in ?Would that fix anything.

 

[Brink]

Ukerin,

I believe that if you press Enter it will be the same as clicking Apply.

You could also boot into Safe Mode and make the changes to the DPI settings from there instead.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/123496-safe-mode.html

Shawn

 

[ukerin]

Ukerin,

I believe that if you press Enter it will be the same as clicking Apply.

You could also boot into Safe Mode and make the changes to the DPI settings from there instead.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/123496-safe-mode.html

Shawn

Thanks I will try that .

 

[ukerin]

I can now is apply when I try to change DPI setting but everything is still long and big and wide .I do not really understand the tutorial how do I get it in safe mode?If I do that will I lose anything?

 

[Brink]

ukerin,

You will just need to restart the computer and tap F8 every second until you see the Advanced Boot Options screen. from there you will select Safe Mode. You will not lose anything.