Lots of folks get their computers, plug them in and then never give thought one to the little tweaks and adjustments that can very easily enhance the whole experience dramatically. One essential improvement that takes only seconds is to bump your monitor's resolution up to a higher setting.
Many computers come out of the box with the monitor resolution set at "600x480" or "800x600". This is often the rock bottom minimum. Now, you wouldn't drive your Amphicar around only in first gear just because that's the first gear you found, would you? Of course not. Beefing up the monitor settings just a tad will often make everything, not just the Club website, look sharper and less "grainy". For example, your word processing program will no longer look like a ransom note or like the text is displayed on a piece of Wonder Bread using your wife's old mascara pencil. So please do give the following step-by-step instructions a shot. You can always change back if you miss "Old Fuzzy", or try a different setting that you like more.
If you have a computer that uses any flavor of Windows as its operating system (that's most computers), then here's all you have to do to try a higher monitor resolution:
Click the <Start> button once (usually at lower left of screen)
Scroll up to "Settings"
Move over to "Control Panel" and click it once
Find "Display" and double-click it
Find the "Settings" tab near the top and click it once
Near the bottom are two settings, one for "Colors" and one for "Screen area": The "Colors" settings are chosen with a pull-down selection menu. If the present setting is anything less than "High color (16 bit)", choose "High color (16 bit)" now from the little pull-down menu. Some older Windows systems might call this setting "16 million colors". Next, set the "Screen area" settings by clicking and dragging the little sliding bar over to "1024 by 768 pixels".
Click the <OK> button
At this point the display may briefly black out and flicker a bit before returning. Don't panic! This is normal. You will then be asked whether or not to go ahead save the new settings and/or and restart. It's probably a good idea to choose yes and let the computer restart and get used to the idea that it's not in first gear any more.
That's it! Once your computer's restarted, come on back to the Club's Home Page and see the difference. You'll also soon notice how you no longer need to scroll so frantically elsewhere around the web, viewing everything through a fence slat. You'll get the "big picture" now. And now that you know just how it's done, you can experiment with different monitor settings until you find your "Goldilocks Spot". For example, you can try the "True color (32 bit)" color setting if your monitor supports it. Or if you have a 17" or bigger monitor, you might enjoy all the legroom that a "1280x1024" or a even a "1600x1200" screen area affords if you like to run lots of different stuff at once. Experiment! You'll find more great tips and tricks for customizing and tweaking both Windows95 and Windows98 at the Windows Annoyances site.
Folks with Macs or other more exotic operating systems should refer to their system's handbook or other documentation to get the most from their monitor settings. Frankly, if you're running some homebrewed flavor of UNIX, you probably don't need my help anyhow.
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Last updated
January 09, 2008