GUI is all washed out, want Win2K / Office 2000 look and feel back

[LurfysMa]

We just upgraded our computers from Win2K & Office 2000 to WinXP &
Office 2007. So far, this has been a very frustrating & time-consuming
experience.

Of the many changes, the one I want to fix first is the contrast of
the menus. Everything looks washed out. My eyes aren't as good as they
once were and I can't tell where one window ends and the next begins.

I am posting this to both a WinXP ng and an Office ng because I don;t
know if this is an Office setting or an OS setting.

I would like to go back to the Win2K/Office 2000 GUI look and feel as
much as possible -- at least until I get the conversion completed and
all of my data and programs migrated and tested.

I would very much appreciate help on how to restore the old GUI.

Thank you

--

 

[Unknown]

You should have verified all your hardware was XP compatible before
updating. Your video card for example may not operate correctly with XP.

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

There is no going back, at least not without performing a Clean
Installation of Windows 2000.
Make sure you have the latest Windows XP video drivers for your video
cards.

 

[LurfysMa]

We just upgraded our computers from Win2K & Office 2000 to WinXP &
Office 2007. So far, this has been a very frustrating & time-consuming
experience.

Of the many changes, the one I want to fix first is the contrast of
the menus. Everything looks washed out. My eyes aren't as good as they
once were and I can't tell where one window ends and the next begins.

I am posting this to both a WinXP ng and an Office ng because I don;t
know if this is an Office setting or an OS setting.

I would like to go back to the Win2K/Office 2000 GUI look and feel as
much as possible -- at least until I get the conversion completed and
all of my data and programs migrated and tested.

I would very much appreciate help on how to restore the old GUI.

Thank you

PS: I should have mentioned that I did go to the Display applet in the
Control Panel and set the Appearance settings back to Windows classic.

One of the reasons that I cannot decide if it's WinXP or Office 2007
is that the Windows Taskbar (at the bottom of the screen) is also all
washed out. I have these two machines running side-by-side. The screen
on the Win2K/Office2K system (a 6 year old PC) is sharp and bright.
The screen on the brand new PC running WinXP/Office 2007 (with a much
better screen and high-end graphics card, is all washed out and hard
to read.

Could it be a monitor setting?

The setting tab shows it set to 1152 x 864 pixels (on a 17" LCD
monitor). The color quality is set to "highest (32 bit)".

Interestingly, on our other PC, the monitors are reversed. The brand
new 24" LCD is on the old PC and the old 16" LCD is on the new PC. On
that one, the colors on the old monitor are all washed out (it used to
be clear when it was running on the old machine) and the new monitor
is all washed out.

I am pretty sure that if I switched monitors, the washed out effect
would stay with the system and not follow the monitor.




--

 

[LurfysMa]

You should have verified all your hardware was XP compatible before
updating. Your video card for example may not operate correctly with XP.

These are two brand new Dell machines with "Designed for WinXP"
stamped all over them.



--

 

[LurfysMa]

There is no going back, at least not without performing a Clean
Installation of Windows 2000.

Yeah, I know.

Make sure you have the latest Windows XP video drivers for your video
cards.

There are brand new Dell machines. They do ship the latest video
drivers, no?

--

 

[LurfysMa]

You should have verified all your hardware was XP compatible before
updating. Your video card for example may not operate correctly with XP.

Besides, it's just the menus and the icons. Photos are crystal clear
as are any of the screen savers and wallpaper. I'm pretty sure it's
not hardware or drivers. I think it's a setting or two somewhere. I
just need someone to tell me where to look and what to change.

--

 

[Unknown]

You say side by side??? Separate them a bit to see if they improve..

 

[J&P]

Have you tried Control panel>Accessibility Options>Display>High
Contrast?

Joe Steele

 

[LurfysMa]

Have you tried Control panel>Accessibility Options>Display>High
Contrast?

I just tried it. Most of the settings are for large to huge icons and
letters with black backgrounds.

The Windows Classic and Windows Standard settings are the same with or
without High Contrast enabled. Unless I missed some option, that's not
it.

--

 

[Mike Hall MVP]

If I understand you correctly, you want old style menus for Office 2007..
there is no native switch between Ribbon and Classic style, but there is a
utility you can buy which will give you Classic menus in Office 2007..

http://www.addintools.com/english/menuoffice/

PS: I should have mentioned that I did go to the Display applet in the
Control Panel and set the Appearance settings back to Windows classic.

One of the reasons that I cannot decide if it's WinXP or Office 2007
is that the Windows Taskbar (at the bottom of the screen) is also all
washed out. I have these two machines running side-by-side. The screen
on the Win2K/Office2K system (a 6 year old PC) is sharp and bright.
The screen on the brand new PC running WinXP/Office 2007 (with a much
better screen and high-end graphics card, is all washed out and hard
to read.

Could it be a monitor setting?

The setting tab shows it set to 1152 x 864 pixels (on a 17" LCD
monitor). The color quality is set to "highest (32 bit)".

Interestingly, on our other PC, the monitors are reversed. The brand
new 24" LCD is on the old PC and the old 16" LCD is on the new PC. On
that one, the colors on the old monitor are all washed out (it used to
be clear when it was running on the old machine) and the new monitor
is all washed out.

I am pretty sure that if I switched monitors, the washed out effect
would stay with the system and not follow the monitor.




--

--


Mike Hall
MS MVP Windows Shell/User
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/

 

[LurfysMa]

If I understand you correctly, you want old style menus for Office 2007..
there is no native switch between Ribbon and Classic style, but there is a
utility you can buy which will give you Classic menus in Office 2007..

http://www.addintools.com/english/menuoffice/

That is part of it. Have you tried this tool? Does it integrate
seamlessly? Does is screw up anything else? Can I toggle between old
and new styles?

Is there any such thing for the WinXP GUI?

--

 

[Vanguard]

We just upgraded our computers from Win2K & Office 2000 to WinXP &
Office 2007. So far, this has been a very frustrating & time-consuming
experience.

Of the many changes, the one I want to fix first is the contrast of
the menus. Everything looks washed out. My eyes aren't as good as they
once were and I can't tell where one window ends and the next begins.

I am posting this to both a WinXP ng and an Office ng because I don;t
know if this is an Office setting or an OS setting.

I would like to go back to the Win2K/Office 2000 GUI look and feel as
much as possible -- at least until I get the conversion completed and
all of my data and programs migrated and tested.

Get rid of themes. Right-click on the My Computer desktop icon. Select
Properties. Click the Advanced tab. Go to Performance. Enable "Adjust
for best performance" and then reenable the effects you still want, like
smooth screen fonts. At the bottom of this list is the themes option
(i.e., "use visual styles"). Disable it and click Apply or OK. Does
that look better to you?

Just getting rid of the fade "features" and other fluff GUI crap.
Personally I like having the menus popup immediately, not fade in and
out. Smoothed scrolling means the display lags my ability to scan a
page to know that I need to scroll some more. Animated windows are
childish and just more wasted time, as with sliding taskbar buttons. I
do, however, like to see the windows contents as I drag it as sometimes
just the box borders are difficult to see (but if you remote access that
host then this wastes bandwidth and slows the screen updates).

 

[SingaporeWebDesign]

Hello,

LCDs have a native resolution, any lower than that, the display will look
washed out.

First, as the others suggested, get the latest drivers. By latest, the one
that comes with your Dell PC may not be the latest. Visit www.dell.com 's
support and drivers section, input the service tag and download the drivers.

Second, ensure that the desktop resolution is the same as the native
resolution of the LCD. Normally, it will be the highest available in Display
properties (Settings tab). Try increasing the Screen Resolution notch by
one, hit Apply until you get a black screen, at which point wait for 10
seconds and hit OK.

--
Singapore Website Design
http://www.bootstrike.com/Webdesign/
Singapore Web Hosting
http://www.bootstrike.com/WinXP/faq.html
Windows XP FAQ

 

[LurfysMa]

Get rid of themes. Right-click on the My Computer desktop icon. Select
Properties. Click the Advanced tab. Go to Performance. Enable "Adjust
for best performance" and then reenable the effects you still want, like
smooth screen fonts. At the bottom of this list is the themes option
(i.e., "use visual styles"). Disable it and click Apply or OK. Does
that look better to you?

That helped several things, but not the washed out look on the desktop
and the taskbar.

On my old Win2K system, I have a few Word documents on the desktop.
The shortcut icons are bright white with a dark blue W.

On the WinXP machine, the same shortcuts are a faded white with a
faded blue W.

Maybe it's just that it is using a different set of icons and I need
to find the old set. Is there a way I can request the "Windows
Classic" icon set or some such?

I have several broken links on the desktop. They seem to be using the
old batch program icon. It is a nice bright white with a dark blue
border. So I know the screen is set right. It's got to be the icon
set.

Just getting rid of the fade "features" and other fluff GUI crap.
Personally I like having the menus popup immediately, not fade in and
out. Smoothed scrolling means the display lags my ability to scan a
page to know that I need to scroll some more. Animated windows are
childish and just more wasted time, as with sliding taskbar buttons. I
do, however, like to see the windows contents as I drag it as sometimes
just the box borders are difficult to see (but if you remote access that
host then this wastes bandwidth and slows the screen updates).

Completely agree. The direction they are going is fluff and hype.
Getting harder and harder to get real work done.

--

 

[LurfysMa]

Hello,

LCDs have a native resolution, any lower than that, the display will look
washed out.

Not everything is washed out. Photos are dazzling. Some icons are
sharp and dark. I don;t think it's the screen.

First, as the others suggested, get the latest drivers. By latest, the one
that comes with your Dell PC may not be the latest. Visit www.dell.com 's
support and drivers section, input the service tag and download the drivers.

I'll do that, but I think this is a "GUI" setting problem.

Second, ensure that the desktop resolution is the same as the native
resolution of the LCD. Normally, it will be the highest available in Display
properties (Settings tab). Try increasing the Screen Resolution notch by
one, hit Apply until you get a black screen, at which point wait for 10
seconds and hit OK.

It's a Dell Inspiron 9400 with a 17" screen: http://tinyurl.com/mxjx5

The screen resulution is set to "1152 by 864", which is the highest
setting. The color quality is set to "Highest (32 bit)".

--

 

[Rob Schneider]

Yeah, I know.


There are brand new Dell machines. They do ship the latest video
drivers, no?

Since brand new, and you are disappointed, get back to Dell rather than
this forum.

 

[Vanguard]

That helped several things, but not the washed out look on the desktop
and the taskbar.

On my old Win2K system, I have a few Word documents on the desktop.
The shortcut icons are bright white with a dark blue W.

On the WinXP machine, the same shortcuts are a faded white with a
faded blue W.

Maybe it's just that it is using a different set of icons and I need
to find the old set. Is there a way I can request the "Windows
Classic" icon set or some such?

I have several broken links on the desktop. They seem to be using the
old batch program icon. It is a nice bright white with a dark blue
border. So I know the screen is set right. It's got to be the icon
set.

Go into the shortcut's properties and change the icon. Could be there
are better ones for the program's for which you have shortcuts. Could
be you screwed up the gamma or contrast settings on your video card or
monitor. Could be you haven't yet installed the drivers for the video
card from the maker of that video card and are using some generic
drivers included with Windows.

 

[SingaporeWebDesign]

Hello,

Are you sure that is the native resolution? From my search on the web, it
seems to be 1440 x 900, with some links showing 1900 x 1200. Whichever it
is, they don't fall into your current one.

When installing the drivers, higher resolutions may become available. Try
it.

--
Singapore Website Design
http://www.bootstrike.com/Webdesign/
Singapore Web Hosting
http://www.bootstrike.com/WinXP/faq.html
Windows XP FAQ