One more question - getting screens right after a restore

[JerseygirlCT]

So thanks again to all who helped with my attack the other night. Apparently, it was a doozy. The tech today had to do a restore and just start from scratch.

But now everything looks funny.

I know I should remember where and how to adjust all this - but nothing I've tried works. View>text size> is on largest already, but it all still looks small. Some sites look a bit squished, too. What embarrassingly obvious thing am I missing here?

Oh, and to all you AVG mavens... that's what I'm using now. Even the tech admitted that his company's McAfee stuff wasn't very good either (their old authentium stuff really sucked). So hopefully, I'm all good with antivirus now!

[hobbit709]

1. Control panel

Display, settings, set screen resolution.

[JerseygirlCT]

2. Doesn't seem to help any...

I thought that was it, too.

[hobbit709]

3. Was the driver for the graphics reinstalled?

In display settings does it give the graphics card name or just say standard vga adapter?

[JerseygirlCT]

4. Thanks hadn't thought about that

I'll have to look at that when I get home.

[JerseygirlCT]

5. There's an Intel driver listed there.

This is making me nuts. Everything looks tiny and fuzzy at the same time!

[JerseygirlCT]

6. I read a suggestion somewhere to

"Try the settings in Internet Explorer Properties... on the 'Security' Tab under 'Internet' (Zone)... in the Custom level, it needs to be put on 'Anonymous Logon' under 'User Authentication'... instead of 'Automatic logon only in Intranet zone'."

I'm a little hesitant to do this, as the whole reason I'm sitting here with itsy bitsy letters on the screen is that the computer had to be restored because of a horrible malware attack.

Does anyone know if that's a good suggestion? A safe one?

[ConsAreLiars]

7. You might have accidentally hit the contol-key and minus-key.

Try hitting the "ctrl" key (bottom left on the keyboard) and the "+" key at the same time and see if that helps.

[JerseygirlCT]

8. Nah. Nothing.

Boy, my eyes are getting a workout!

[Redneck Socialist]

9. Restore might have switched you from or to "clear type"

click on "start," click "Control Panel", click "Appearance and Themes", and then click "Display." On the Appearance tab, click "Effects." Click to select the "Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts" check box, and then click ClearType in the list. If it is set to "cleartype" already, switch it to "standard."

See if that brings your font back to the way that you are use to.

[JerseygirlCT]

10. Thanks, I'll try that when the kid lets me back on my computer, lol!

I appreciate the help. It's really driving me nuts!

[JerseygirlCT]

11. Clear type does seem darker at least

Still small, but a bit easier to read.

DU is one of the worst sites right now for tiny! Either that or I've aged quite suddenly in the last week.

[Redneck Socialist]

12. If that didn't do the trick, then I got nothin'

That's about the extent of my computer tricks. It's likely that your computer was restored to a point that pre-dated some setting change. What that might have been, I have no clue.

Sorry.

I know how frustrating not having your screen look the way you like can be. Not too long ago I used a program to "optimize" XP's settings and it change the look of my font. It drove me nuts until I figured out the "cleartype" trick.

[JerseygirlCT]

17. Thanks

That's about where I am now.

Maybe it's a sign I'm supposed to spend less time at the computer!

[Gore1FL]

13. What kid of video card does it have?

Where did you get the PC? Is it a laptop or a desktop?

[JerseygirlCT]

15. Desktop, HP pavilion slimline, running XP home

video card: Intel 829156G/GV/920GL Express Chipset Family? It says it's working right.

Everything with the exact system was working fine until we had to format and restore the OS.

[Gore1FL]

19. With HP, this could be pretty easy. for me to help you

I create universal XP images with pre-installed drivers and software that have to work on both HP and Dell PCs at work.

Go to http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/support.html

Select the Download drivers and software (and firmware)Radio button

The in the space below type in Pavilion and the model number (that should be on a label on the case if you are unsure of it).

Download the latest drivers for the the chipset and the Intel Video driver (since the video card is integrated, there may not be a file for the video driver and may be included in the chipset driver itself)

I am guessing the drivers that it installed from the XP CD/DVD are out of date for the hardware,and though it works overall, it isn;t communicating properly.

Let me know how that works for you.

[JerseygirlCT]

20. I will try that, thank you. nt

[JerseygirlCT]

23. I did download the driver, but there's no difference, unfortunately

The desktop is fine - who cares really what that looks like? At any rate, it doesn't trouble me much at all.

But boy, some of these web pages... faint and tiny and very hard to read!

[Gore1FL]

24. Try this next, now that we know your driver is OK

right click your screen in an area absent of icons and check you your color and screen resolution. If you have a wide screen the ration of the dimensions should be 16 by 9. On a "regular" screen it should be 4 by 3.

For example 1024 X 768 is a 4to3 ratio 1360 X 768 is a 16to9 ratio.

I'd start with one of those. Then make sure your color is set to 32 bit.

If you can;t get these settings (especially the color depth) it is indicative of still having a driver issue.

Did you get both chipset and intel video?

[ConsAreLiars]

14. Another approach.

Perhaps the tech reset your screen resolution to something that works for him/her but not for you.

Right-click on the screen background, select "properties," then "settings," and then slide the "screen resolution" gadget to the left.

If that helps, good, and select save setting. If not, hit cancel and wait for better advice.

[JerseygirlCT]

16. Thanks

I keep suspecting that's the problem, too. But so far moving things only seems to make it fuzzier, not bigger.

Everything seems a bit squeezed to the left, too - websites and such now often have borders along the right that weren't there before.

[JerseygirlCT]

18. One more thought/question: (AVG/Spyware Terminator invol.)

when the tech restored things, he also asked if I wanted him to install the things he uses for security: AVG and Spyware terminator.

Having heard about AVG from you all here, I said yes!

So when I booted things up after he'd left, what I got was a sort of cascade of questions - I'm not even sure from which program: "do you want us to block this? Do you want us to block that?"

I wonder if it's possible I blocked something that the driver needed to function properly? I can't even really read what's blocked as it pops up quickly after windows loads - and I don't know the programs well enough to know where to look to see what is being blocked - anyone know? Is this possible?

That's the only new software on the machine since the restore. I put an old (full) version of Word back on, and my son put Cubase back on, and that's it.

[Gore1FL]

21. it sounds like a firewall

that shouldn't mess with your video.

[JerseygirlCT]

22. One message I'm getting - too quickly and too small

to catch entirely - is something about C:\...\drivers\http.sys being blocked.

So is there any chance that I blocked something needed to make these web pages behave themselves?

I can't even tell if it's the anti-virus or the anti-spyware that's sending the message.

[RoyGBiv]

25. Shot in the dark ...

Do you have an LCD or CRT monitor?

If the former, do you have the screen set to "optimal resolution"? On a lot of LCDs if you try any resolution other than the one rated as optimal, everything looks screwed up.

If the latter, have you checked the refresh rate for your monitor and/or have you adjusted the monitor itself?

I have an old CRT monitor I use, and every time I install an OS, I have to adjust the refresh rate for the monitor *and* then go into the monitor's settings themselves and adjust things.

I've gathered from your comments this was some other issue that seemed to me like a driver issue initially, but that seems not to be the case. Going back to your original post you said everything "looks funny." All together it sounds a bit like the issue I have when I start an OS from scratch. My monitor works best at 1600x1200 and 75Hz, but when I install the NVidia driver for my graphics card, the setup for it wants to throw it 1900x(something) at 72Hz, which looks horrible.

Just guessing...

[JerseygirlCT]

26. Well, apparently you guess well

In spite of all my fiddling, when the tech came back today, all he did was reset the resolution (way down to the left) and the brightness and contrast on the monitor.

It's still not *quite* as it was, but it's lots closer, and I'm so tired of messing with it, I'll take it.

It's funny -- I tried this already. I guess I just didn't hit on the right setting and combination of brightness and contrast settings.

Things are still a bit grey now, but it's all legible at least.

Thank you!

And another thanks to everyone holding my hand through this thread!