How to Set Windows XP For A Wide Screen LCD

Over the years and with the introduction of LCD monitors for PC's there has been some confusion on what the screen resolution should be set to for wide screen display. Some users set it for the wrong resolution and just live with it being distorted or think that their monitor or video card is bad. This is probably not true and it is probably just the settings which can be fixed real easily. First, lets talk about what is screen resolution. Screen resolution is the amount of pixels your monitor and video card displays across and down on the given monitor size. So an example setting would be 1024 x 768, so translated into width and height it would be 1024 pixels across and 768 pixel down on a standard 17" monitor. The higher the numbers the higher the resolution, the more pixels are displayed. Second lets talk about dimensions, on a standard computer monitor its 4:3, the ratio of width versus height. So 640 x 480 would be of that approximate proportion of 4:3. The aspect ratio defines the shape of the displayed image on your monitor. So a standard monitor is 4:3 and a wide screen is 16:9 or 16:10. So if we want the image on the monitor to look right we need to have 16:10 ratio of the resolution. Third here are some sample resolutions for wide screen use. 1280 x 800 , 1440 x 900, 1600 x 1080. Many times these are referred to by letter designations like WUXGA or WVGA and so on. I personally don't care for the letter designation since it means you have to translate or know what the numbers are in order to set your resolution. But you can usually find all the resolution display numbers by just searching for "WUXGA standards". So by using one of the above screen resolutions we can quickly and easily change our resolution so that the display looks correct and not scrunched up.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Your Computer
• Wide Screen LCD

1. Right Click In A Blank Area On Your Desktop.
2. Click PROPERTIES
3. At The Top Of The Properties Window Click the SETTINGS Tab.
4. Click and Drag The Slider Bar To The Right Or Left To Increase or Decrease The Resolution To 1280 x 800, 1440 x 900, or 1600 x 1050. (Note: There may be some discrepancy with the actual numbers depending on what your monitor reports as supported resolutions, so you may have to just get close to one.)
5. Click APPLY To Test The New Screen Resolution. (See if the text and the buttons look correct and are not scrunched up or proportioned incorrectly) If The Screen Looks Correct Click YES To The Question: Do You Want To Keep This Setting Or Click NO To Set It Back.
6. Click OK.

Tips & Warnings

• Screen Resolution can be finicky at times due to video card drivers and their related software. But with some playing around and some patience you should be able to get the right screen resolution to fit your Wide Screen Monitor.
• The biggest frustration is when users don't understand why the screen looks the way it does and learning the basic concepts really helps out with easing that frustration.
• If you find the screen goes blank after setting your screen resolution, then you may have a missing monitor driver or an outdated or wrong video card driver. See other how to articles on updating these.