How To Check Or Change Your Video Resolution Settings
The size of what you see on your monitor is determined by the resolution settings
of your computer video driver. A lower resolution setting will cause everything on
the screen to appear larger, while a higher resolution setting will cause things to
appear smaller.
If you are using a flat panel monitor, as opposed to a CRT monitor,
please read Flat Panel Comments because there are specific
video setting considerations unique to these monitors.
If you are using a Windows based PC, you can easily change your video settings as follows:
1. Left click the "minus" sign in the
top right corner of the browser screen:  ;
and the browser window should close and drop down to a little
notice at the bottom of the screen.
2. Now, with some empty desktop visible, right click anywhere
on an empty area.
3. A drop down menu should appear and this menu should provide a link to the resolution adjustments.
If the menu has an option that says "Resolution", left click that. Or if that is not available,
look for a "Properties" entry and left click that and then left click the "Settings" tab.
4. Once you reach the correct window, you should see an indication of your
current resolution setting, and you will probably see a slider that can be moved to decrease or increase your
video resolution settings. Rather than a slider, you may be able to change your resolution by selecting from a
drop down numerical list of available resolution settings.
Common settings for standard monitors (non wide screen) include, but are not limited to: 1280 x 1024, 1162 x 864,
1024 x 768, etc. The first number is the horizontal resolution and the second one is the vertical
resolution expressed in pixels. Change the setting to the desired resolution if it is not already there.
Note: As of this update in 2011, in the past several years,
I have seen computers from different manufacturers running various versions of
Windows that include a variety of variations in the menu described above.
What may appear in the menu may not be "Resolution" or "Properties",
but something less obvious, such as the manufacturer's name of your video system
(e.g., NVIDIA, ATI, etc.) or an item that says "Graphical . . . " or "Personalize . . .",
and you will need to left click on that to select "Resolution" or possibly "Settings" which will
then lead to "Resolution" so that you can see the resolution adjustment slider or listings.
5. Left click "Apply". A box will pop up that says "Windows
will now resize your desktop". Left click "OK". The screen will
go dark for a few seconds and then the newly resized box will
appear.
6. It will ask you if you want to use this size, and you should then left
click "OK".
7. Now, with the new resolution set, left click on the notice down at
the bottom of the screen to bring the browser back on the screen.
If you have gone to a lower resolution, the browser should automatically resize itself to fit the screen.
If you have gone to a higher resolution, you may find that the browser does not fully fill the screen,
in which case, "grab" a corner or edge(s) with the mouse and drag it as necessary so that it properly
fills the screen.
8. Because of the variety of different resolution settings available to choose from, you need to be
careful that you have chosen one that matches the aspect ratio of your monitor. You can check this by
looking at this sphere to make sure that it appears round, or nearly so.
If it does, your setting fits your monitor; if it does not, you need to use a different setting.
When you are through looking at any site where you have changed
your video resolution settings, simply repeat the steps above to
return to your previous settings.
The first time you go through the above procedure, it may seem
somewhat involved, but after you do it once or twice, it will
only take you a few seconds and will seem quite simple! And if
you have never done it before, it is something you will probably want to know
about so that when you get a new PC or monitor you can set it up to suit your preferences.
If you would like an automatic check of your resolution, go to resolution check.
NOTICE!
I originally added these resolution setting pages to the site for visitors that wanted
to see the pictures in a more suitable size for their particular monitors. However, I
have noticed that there are a number of people who visit my site for the specific
purpose of using the resolution setting information. If you are one of those people,
please send me an email to let me know if these pages answered your questions, and if not,
why not. Thank you.
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