My screen has shrunk .......

[Matilda]

I was playing around with some ideas for a different wallpaper, and
I noticed that the size of my screen had shrunk, so I now have a
large black area surrounding it.

I don't know what I did, so I don't know how to undo it. Everything
works, but it just looks strange. Can anybody give me advice
please?

[FormerDittoHead]

1. What the heck do you mean by "screen"?

I'm guessing that your wallpaper isn't 'stretched', but could the resolution of your monitor be changed, and if so, up or down? I'm guessing the prior, but this is the kind of vauge question that drives me nuts.

[Matilda]

2. I'm sorry - I'm terribly ignorant about computer terminology.

I mean the display area - instead of filling the whole screen, it
appears to have shrunk in from the left-hand side and from the top,
so there's a black border - about 3/4" on the left, and about 1/4"
at the top.

The resolution is set at Normal (96 dpi). It happened when I tried
out a picture as wallpaper - the picture appeared in the middle of
the screen, and the rest of the display had shrunk in from the left
side and the top. I changed back to my regular wallpaper but it
didn't improve things. I also tried turning the computer off and
starting it up again, but that didn't work either.

The effect is as if I had clicked the Restore up and down icon and
it's stayed small - but that's not it, I tried that too.

As I'm typing this, the typing looks kind of blurred - not sharp and
clear as it usually does. Perhaps my monitor is just wearing out?
It's about six years old.

[FormerDittoHead]

3. Curious.

OK, I'm assuming you're using Windows (still not sure about which version, and Mac and Linux use wallpapers too, but here goes), and we now know you're using a CRT display and not a flat panel... I feel like Sherlock Holmes.

When I refer to resolution, I mean 800x600 versus 1024x768, not font size.

I'd check the resolution (settings-> control panel-> display-> settings-> screen area). It could also be the 'color' setting (to the left of of the screen area setting) could have been set too high by the change of wallpaper...

I'd turn off the monitor and check to make sure all the plugs are securely in place. Your monitor (or video card) may very well be going, but changing wallpaper wouldn't have anything to do with that.

I may want to play with the buttons/knobs on your monitor to re-center the screen and such.

There's not a lot more than that you can do, in my experience...

[Matilda]

4. Thanks for your advice, but - it died.

Right in front of my eys. It kept shrinking, and then it faded
away quite suddenly, just a grey screen, so I'm presuming it's
dead. I'm typing this on another computer, so you won't think I'm
rudely ignoring you.

I'll have to go out and look at new ones tomorrow, because that was
my office computer - thank goodness I'd done all my work and was
just playing around.

[alfredo]

5. Is it the monitor or the video card that went out?

[Prisoner_Number_Six]

6. Something accidentally changed the screen resolution

Right-click anywhere on the desktop, then hit PROPERTIES. Go to the SETTINGS tab, and from there you can adjust the resolution- my guess it got switched to 640x480. Change it to 800x600 or higher, and it should be okay again.