Problem with display, stretched windows, icons etc

[Fashion1st]

Last night I was online, but idle while watching tv and all of a sudden
everything on the monitor became stretched left to right. The icons, windows,
word documents, everything. When I open a program it seems that 10 percent of
the left and right side are hidden and not visable. The images are stretched and
distorted from left to right. The desktop icons on the far left and right side
are hidden too. From top to bottom it's ok.
I went into control panel and to display, appearance and themes and tried to fix
it somehow but no luck. I did sysyem restore and no luck either. Did a virus
scan and showed no infections. System is xp pro.

Any ideas on what's going on and how to fix it?

Thanks you

 

[Sharon F]

Last night I was online, but idle while watching tv and all of a sudden
everything on the monitor became stretched left to right. The icons, windows,
word documents, everything. When I open a program it seems that 10 percent of
the left and right side are hidden and not visable. The images are stretched and
distorted from left to right. The desktop icons on the far left and right side
are hidden too. From top to bottom it's ok.
I went into control panel and to display, appearance and themes and tried to fix
it somehow but no luck. I did sysyem restore and no luck either. Did a virus
scan and showed no infections. System is xp pro.

Any ideas on what's going on and how to fix it?

Thanks you

Two things that I can think of to try:

-Check desktop size in Display> Settings. Is the regular preferred setting
still in force?

-Use the button controls on the monitor to pull in the sides of the
display. Consult your monitor's manual for directions if not familiar with
the procedure for making manual adjustments.

 

[Fashion1st]

Two things that I can think of to try:

-Check desktop size in Display> Settings. Is the regular preferred setting
still in force?

Yes that was at 800 x 600 which I liked and had been using.

-Use the button controls on the monitor to pull in the sides of the
display. Consult your monitor's manual for directions if not familiar with
the procedure for making manual adjustments.

I tried that and it did bring in some left and right sides but it squashed the
icons on the far left and righ edges and the ones in the center of the desktop
looked a little stretched, so I don't think this is the answer.


I went in and changed to resolution to 1024 x 768 32 bit and now the desktop
looks normal with no distortion, but the icons and programs are much smaller and
hard to read, so is there anyway to make them larger? Or am I stuck with this
new size?

Thanks

 

[Guest]

Last night I was online, but idle while watching tv and all of a sudden
everything on the monitor became stretched left to right. The icons, windows,
word documents, everything. When I open a program it seems that 10 percent of
the left and right side are hidden and not visable. The images are stretched and
distorted from left to right. The desktop icons on the far left and right side
are hidden too. From top to bottom it's ok.
I went into control panel and to display, appearance and themes and tried to fix
it somehow but no luck. I did sysyem restore and no luck either. Did a virus
scan and showed no infections. System is xp pro.

Any ideas on what's going on and how to fix it?

Thanks you

---------------------

Sharon gave you good advice on your software question. However...

My first guess with symptoms like that would be the monitor is failing
by inches. (I'm presuming you have a CRT and not an LCD) If you can
borrow another monitor temporarily, try plugging it into the computer
and see if you get the same problem or not.

If it is the monitor, there's no fixing it. It will just get worse over
time. If you see the same problem on the borrowed monitor though, then
it's likely something in the computer such as the software or adapter.

Good luck....

Bill