3.6 Setting Desktop Icons
You might want to change which basic system icons are always included on your desktop. Here’s how:
1. | Open the Personalization window.
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2. | In the Tasks list, click Change Desktop Icons.
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You can turn on or off five common shortcut icons to appear on the desktop:
Computer
User’s Files
Network
Recycle Bin
Control Panel
You
can also manage the icons used for these desktop shortcuts using the
Change Icon and Restore Default buttons. You can also uncheck the Allow
Themes to Change Desktop Icons check box, if you want your desktop
icons to remain static.
3.7 Account Picture
You
can change the picture associated with your Windows user account that
appears on the Welcome screen and your Start menu. Just click on the
Change Your Account Picture in the Personalization window Tasks list.
In the Change Your Picture window that appears, click one of the
thumbnails, and then click Change Picture. You can also click the
Browse for More Pictures link, and then locate and select a different
image (including one of your own).
3.8 Display Settings
The Display link in the Tasks list of the Personalization window opens the Display window, shown in Figure 10.
From here, you can increase the size of text and other elements of most
windows by selecting the Medium – 125% or Larger – 150% radio button.
Note
Screen
fonts are smoothed using the standard Windows method or using ClearType
(the default). ClearType often improves the visibility range on older
LCD displays. |
The
options listed in the Tasks list let you tweak the video driver’s most
basic settings—screen resolution (desktop size), brightness, and color
quality. You can configure other display settings (covered next),
connect to a projector, adjust the ClearType text, and set custom text
size up to 200%.
The Screen Resolution Window
Click
the Change Display Settings link in the Tasks list of the Display
window to open the Screen Resolution window. In this window you can
select a display if you are using multiple monitors, change resolution
settings, and connect to an external projector, among other tasks.
Windows
7 allows you to display the same desktop view on two or more monitors.
On a notebook PC, you can display the desktop on both the built-in LCD
panel and an external monitor. On desktop PCs, you need multiple video
cards or a single card with dual outputs to use multiple monitors. You
can also set up multiple screens such that each one is displaying
different information, thus enlarging your overall desktop area (called
extended desktop).
When
you plug in a modern monitor, Windows usually detects it and sets the
correct resolution, refresh rate, orientation, and color depth for it.
Most newer monitors and projectors support Extended Display
Identification Data (EDID), a standard video data format that transmits
this information to the computer when you plug them in.
The
Resolution setting makes resizing your desktop a breeze. Many of us
want to cram as much on the screen as possible without going blind.
This setting lets you experiment and even change resolution on-the-fly
to best display whatever you’re working on. Some jobs, such as working
with large spreadsheets, databases, CAD, or typesetting, are much more
efficient with more data displayed on the
screen. Because higher resolutions require a trade-off in clarity and
make onscreen objects smaller, you can minimize eyestrain by going to a
lower resolution, such as 1024×768 pixels. (A pixel is essentially one dot on the screen.)
If
you increase the resolution and find that the screen updates slowly
when you drag windows around, you may find that running in True Color
at a high resolution, such as 1280×1024, can result in response delays,
especially if you have Show Window Contents While Dragging turned on
(in the Performance Options dialog box). When you move a window, it
moves jerkily across the screen. If you play videos such as Windows
Media Video, QuickTime, MPEG, or RealPlayer movies, you’ll also notice
these higher color depths can slow down the movies or make them play
jerkily. Unless you’re doing high-resolution
photographic-quality work or something similar, you don’t need the
high-resolution 24-bit or 32-bit color depth settings. Right-click the
desktop and select Screen Resolution. Click Advanced Settings, and on
the Adapter tab, click the List All Modes button. Try reducing the
color depth a notch (such as to 24- or 16-bit color if you have those
options) and enjoy the speed increase. |
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To change the resolution, open the Resolution list. A slider appears, as shown in Figure 11.
Move the slider to the resolution you want, and then click OK or Apply.
You are asked if you want to keep the changes. The good thing about the
no-reboot video subsystem, first introduced with Windows 98, is that
the driver settings should revert within 15 seconds unless you accept
them. So, if the screen goes blank or otherwise goes bananas, click
Revert or just wait. It should return to the previous setting.
If
after changing the screen resolution, desktop items move off the edge
of the screen and some windows can’t be closed, it’s possible that you
switched to a lower resolution from a higher one. Theoretically,
Windows is good about relocating desktop icons, but some applications
might not do the same. For example, the small AOL Instant Messenger
dialog box can be off the edge of the screen somewhere, and when it is,
you can’t get to it. Closing and rerunning the program doesn’t help. One
trick is to switch to the application by pressing Alt+Tab. Then press
Alt+spacebar and press M. This key combination invokes the Move command
for the window. Then you can use the arrow keys on the keyboard to move
the window (typically to the left and/or up). When you have the title
bar of the window in view, press Enter. If this trick doesn’t work,
switch back to the previous higher resolution, reposition the
application window in question closer to the upper-left corner of the
screen, and then switch back to the lower resolution. It might help to
remember that your screen is always decreased or increased in size
starting from the lower-right corner and moving up or down diagonally. |
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All
laptops, notebooks, and almost all desktop computers have LCD monitors
these days. Unlike their somewhat more-versatile yet clunky and
energy-hungry CRT-based progenitors, these space-saving displays are
optimized for one resolution, called their native resolution. On LCDs, it’s recommended you don’t change the setting from the native (sometimes called suggested)
resolution. Although choosing a lower resolution will result in making
screen elements larger (and thus easier for some people to see), it
will also produce a blockier, fuzzier display. This effect is mitigated
somewhat on more intelligent displays by engineering that provides
antialiasing. Trying a higher resolution than the native one typically
will not work. There is a discrete number of pixels on the display, and
these are of a predetermined size.
Trying
to jam more pixels on the screen, if it works at all, does so by
creating a “virtual” screen that is larger than the actual one. This
will require you to pan and scroll the screen image. Check the
computer’s or monitor’s manual if you’re in doubt about which external
monitor resolutions are supported.
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If
you want to use an external TV monitor, but the output text is
illegible, it’s important to note that displaying computer output on a
TV monitor can be problematic. TV sets (as opposed to professional TV
monitors) often overscan, pushing the edges of the image off the edge
of the screen. The following are a few points to remember when you’re
using a TV or video projector, whether you’re doing presentations,
playing games, or giving your eyes a break by moving your focal plane
back a bit: If your computer and TV or
video projector have HDMI (High-Definition Multimedia Interface) or DVI
(Digital Video Interface) connectors, use those for the best image
quality. Use “S” (Super VHS) inputs if other connectors are not
available. Use the Detect button in the
Screen Resolution window (right-click the desktop and select Screen
Resolution) to let Windows 7 automatically detect the output device. If
you cannot get a decent screen image or if it’s blank, restart in Safe
Mode and try updating your video card or TV tuner driver. Still no
luck? Uninstall the driver and then re-install it in Safe Mode. Check
the tabs in your adapter and monitor Advanced Settings dialog box for
buttons that let you center the image on the TV. It’s most likely off
center or needs resizing when you first try it. Some drivers, such as
those from ATI, have advanced properties for fine-tuning a TV display. Your
application may have a “zoom” control for easily increasing the size of
text onscreen, without the hassle of reformatting the entire document.
Microsoft Office tools such as Excel and Word, for example, have such a
feature. Try bumping up the zoom size to increase legibility.
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Exploring Advanced Display Settings
The
Advanced Settings link in the Screen Resolution window opens the
monitor and adapter Properties dialog box. This dialog box has four
tabs—Adapter, Monitor, Troubleshoot, and Color Management.
The
Adapter tab displays information about the video card and offers access
to update, roll back, disable, and uninstall the video driver through
the Properties button. (Click the Resources tab in the Properties
dialog box if you want to fine-tune the configuration of the driver.)
The List All Modes button is used to view the color, resolution, and
refresh rate combinations supported by this video adapter.
What
do you do if you change your resolution or refresh rate, and now the
screen is blank? Normally, you shouldn’t have this problem because
Windows 7 asks you to confirm that a screen resolution works properly
and switches back to the previous resolution if you don’t confirm. If
you changed color depth and resolution, and the system is stuck with a
blank screen, you can reboot, press F8 during boot, and choose Safe
Mode. Right-click the desktop, choose Screen Resolution, and reset the
properties to what the computer was running at before the change. Be
sure to reset both the screen resolution and the color depth (click
Advanced Settings, List All Modes). In the worst-case scenario, start
with 800×600 and 16-bit color. Then reboot normally. After you’ve
rebooted successfully, right-click the desktop, choose Screen
Resolution, and increase the settings one step at a time. Don’t change
resolution and color depth at the same time, though. Increase one first
and then the other, rebooting in between changes. Note
that some motherboards reserve F8 for a boot selection menu, which
would prevent the preceding approach from working. If that is the case
on your PC, reboot and press F6 to display advanced boot options. Then
choose appropriately from the resulting menu. |
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The
Monitor tab offers access to update, roll back, disable, and uninstall
the monitor driver (Properties button), and to set the screen refresh
rate. Use the screen refresh rate with caution because it can damage
older monitors or render your desktop unviewable. Higher refresh rates
reduce the flickering of the display. You can also select a color depth
setting at the bottom of this tab.
Unlike
CRTs, LCDs do not benefit from higher refresh rates. Don’t try to use
anything above a 60Hz refresh rate for an LCD monitor. Also, check the
LCD monitor’s internal settings (check its manual) for a “phase
adjustment” or focus adjustment to help clear up fuzziness on small
text. |
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The
Troubleshoot tab is used to set the hardware acceleration rate,
anywhere between None and Full. Basically, this indicates how much
video processing is offloaded to the video adapter instead of being
performed by Windows 7 on the CPU. The more you can offload processing
to the video card, the more smoothly your system will function. If you
have problems with jitters or lockups, you may need to reduce the
amount of hardware acceleration, if that option is not grayed out.
(Some cards won’t let you change this setting, or you won’t have the
privilege level necessary unless you are an administrator.)
The
Color Management tab is used to set the color profile used to manage
colors for your adapter and monitor. If you are performing high-end
image processing, you may want to investigate this feature in the
Windows 7 Resource Kit.
Fine-Tuning Display Settings
To
fine-tune display settings beyond just the resolution, click the
Advanced Settings link in the Screen Resolution window, and then click
the List All Modes button. Assuming that Windows 7 has properly
identified your video display card and that the correct driver is
installed, the List All Modes dialog box (see Figure 12)
should include all the legitimate options your card is capable of. Your
color depth options, such as 256 Colors, High Color 32 bit, True Color
16 bit, and so on, are limited by the amount of video RAM on the card
and the resolution you choose. The higher the resolution, the more
memory is used for pixel addressing, limiting the pixel depth (number
of colors that can be displayed per pixel). With many modern cards,
this limitation is no biggie, and it’s likely that many Windows 7 users
will not have to worry about it except possibly in cases when they have
large monitors displaying 1600×1200 (or higher) and want 32-bit color and
a high refresh rate. All modern color monitors for PCs, however, are
capable of displaying 16 million colors, which is dubbed True Color.
Tip
Contrary
to some advertising accompanying flat-panel monitors, LCDs don’t give a
hoot about high refresh speed. In fact, they don’t like high speeds.
LCDs use a completely different technology, typically with a transistor
for each pixel. The dots don’t have to be refreshed as they do in a
CRT. If you notice a blurry display on a desktop LCD screen, it’s
probably because the refresh rate is set too high (such as to 75Hz).
Lowering it to 59 or 60Hz should resolve the problem. This advice
applies only to LCDs attached to analog display cards. Some outboard
LCD monitors are driven by their own digital adapter cards, and refresh
settings don’t affect those cards. |
If
you are experiencing any problems with your video system, from pop-up
errors blaming the video system, to a flickering display, to even
trouble resetting the resolution and color, click the Advanced Settings
link in the Screen Resolution window and then the Troubleshoot tab.
There may be some useful information there, depending on your monitor.
Caution
If
you specify a refresh rate that is too high for your monitor, it could
damage the monitor. Also, trying to expand the desktop area to a larger
size might not work. You just get a mess on the screen. If you have
this problem, try using a setting with a lower refresh rate, such as
60Hz or “interlaced.” The image may flicker a bit more, but at least it
will be visible. |
If
your CRT monitor is flickering, you can change the refresh rate to fix
the problem. Increase the refresh rate of the display subsystem to at
least 70Hz by right-clicking the desktop, choosing Screen Resolution,
and clicking Advanced Settings. In the Properties dialog box, click the
Monitor tab, and then open the Screen Refresh Rate drop-down list. Note that this applies only to older, CRT-style monitors, not thin, flat-panel LCD monitors. Most LCDs should be run at 60Hz for the clearest image. |
