Updated: July 17, 2005
How To Change Screen Resolution
- Right click on any blank portion of the desktop and a menu will appear that looks like this. Properties is selected for you in the example below:
- Select and click Properties with the left mouse button. You will see the Display Properties dialog box. It always comes up with the Background tab selected. Here's the picture:
- Click on the Settings tab. The Display Properties box changes to look like this:
Note: Your computer will probably have a different graphics card installed.
- As you can see by reading the screen, you have a few options. Grabbing the slider bar with the mouse pointer and dragging it to the right provides higher resolutions, dragging to the left gives lower resolutions. Your monitor is running at whatever resolution is listed in the Screen area section of the Display Properties dialog box. Change it to 1024 by 768 by sliding the bar.
- The number of colors may be anywhere from 16 to True Color (32 bit), which gives you millions of colors. Here's a picture of what you'll see when you click the Colors drop down box:
- Depending on your graphics card, you'll be able to select one of the options. The better your card, the more colors you can display, and the higher resolution you can use. Experiment with this until you find a level that is optimal for you--attempt the highest number of colors with at least 1024 by 768 resolution.
- Click OK. You'll see the dialog that says "Windows will now resize your desktop. This could take a few seconds, during which your screen could flicker." If Windows is behaving, the statement made in the box will be accurate. The flickering screen is no problem at all.
- Click OK to accept the proposed change in resolution. You will receive yet another box for your efforts:
- Click Yes, and your desktop will be keep its new size. Click No, and your old settings will be restored. And that's all there is to resizing your desktop--also known as changing resolution.
Tutorial courtesy of The Newbie Club.
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By Bill Parisi
