Monitor Question

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wdcav1952

wdcav1952

Activities Manager Emeritus
Joined
Mar 18, 2004
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8,955
Location
Montgomery, Pennsylvania, USA.
I was out of town this weekend When I came home and logged on to my computer, I found a problem. All type and icons look like the have a vague double image. Imagine writing with a fountain pen and getting a smudged look if you rub your hand across the ink before it dries. The double image is to the right of the "true" image.

My monitor is a flat screen Dell. I think it is about a year old, but without looking up records I am not sure.

I have tried the standard adjustments with no luck. I did cut the monitor off for a minute or so, and the image was good at first and then gradually degraded again.

Any ideas from the smart people?

TIA,
 
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Check your screen resolution and see if it might have "adjusted itself" for some reason.

Did you click on the "Refresh" button?
 
If you have Windows prior to Vista, you can adjust the font in their programing to HAVE a shadow. Sometime if my powerstrip has been triggered it resets the fonts and all to my previous setting.
 
First off, thanks to Skippy and Monty for a good laugh!!

I am running Vista Home Premium. My wife who is the brains of the outfit told me the monitor may be as much as three years old.

Unfortunately, I don't have any spare anything to swap out to test.

As soon as I posted my question, I shut off the monitor for 30-40 minutes. My resolution if that is the right word, is fine now, no shadowing at all. I had followed the lead of what we do at work, and have been leaving both the computer and monitor on all the time. The screen saver kicks in @ 30 minutes. My wife told me to cut off the monitor when not in use. Cutting off the computer is a pain since it takes longer than my patience allows for Vista to boot up, let me select me as the user and load my settings. So, is cutting off the monitor when not in use a good idea? My wife's comment was (we both work for the federal gov't) that at work if a monitor dies, computer services just gets another one.
 
No problem with turning the monitor off when not in use. I turn mine off every night and leave the computer on to perform it's maintainance tasks with no problem.
 
Sounds like you've got it solved, but I was going to suggest looking in the
monitor's menu to see if there was a 'Degauss' feature in it
 
I turn my monitor off every night as well. I have a Dell with Windows Vista and I know what you mean about loading up. Slow as molasses and it's brand stinking new. Can't wait for Windows 7!
 
I don't think we really know for sure what the problem is; but one thing you can try that might help is the following.

Somewhere in your computer set-up, Cav, there will almost certainly be a "Power-Saver" function that allows the computer to shut down certain features after an owner defined period of inactivity. This works pretty much like the screen-saver function except the monitor is shut totally down rather than just being in SS mode. Come back to the computer later and press the button and you are back up and running immediately.

A monitor should last a lot longer than 3 years; but the fact that you leave it up and running 24/7 makes its functional age about 4 times what its chronological age is so maybe it it starting to wear out.

Same is true for your computer. Give it some down time and it is going to last a lot longer than leaving it up 24/7. Believe me, I fully understand the problem of waiting for computer to boot up. The more stuff you have on it, the more time it takes; but it is fairly simple to avoid about 99% of the time waste by some simple preplanning. For instance, if you like to "compute" in the morning, push the button your alarm and then turn your computer on and let it boot up while you are showering and shaving. Do your computing ant then shut it off when you leave for work. Same sort of thing in the evening when you get home from work. First thing in the door, turn the computer on. Then kiss the wife, change your clothes and pour a cool one. By the time you are ready to compute, the computer will be ready for you.

My GF bitches every time she turns on her computer in the evening and I have been totally unable to teach her the easy solution to her unhappiness. After she gets home from work, it is at least an hour before she is in need of her computer. By the time she has brought in the mail, changed her clothes, feed the fish and etc. plenty time has passed for her computer to boot up if only she would turn the damn thing on when she first gets home, but, nooooo..........she would rather complain about how slow it is than to make a tiny change in her evening routine to resolve the problem.:mad:
 
My guess is that you installed updates, and now your browser is set to Clear Type...

This is a microsoft thing that is designed to make type appear clearer, and makes it look really really fuzzy on mine...perhaps on yours as well...

It's quite easy to turn Clear Type off..just google it! :)
 
rjwolfe3 said:
I turn my monitor off every night as well. I have a Dell with Windows Vista and I know what you mean about loading up. Slow as molasses and it's brand stinking new. Can't wait for Windows 7!
Click to expand...


Hmmm.... sounds like you all need to join the good side and buy a mac! :biggrin:
 
Randy_ said:
I don't think we really know for sure what the problem is; but one thing you can try that might help is the following.

 Somewhere in your computer set-up, Cav, there will almost certainly be a "Power-Saver" function that allows the computer to shut down certain features after an owner defined period of inactivity. This works pretty much like the screen-saver function except the monitor is shut totally down rather than just being in SS mode. Come back to the computer later and press the button and you are back up and running immediately.

 A monitor should last a lot longer than 3 years; but the fact that you leave it up and running 24/7 makes its functional age about 4 times what its chronological age is so maybe it it starting to wear out.

Same is true for your computer. Give it some down time and it is going to last a lot longer than leaving it up 24/7. Believe me, I fully understand the problem of waiting for computer to boot up. The more stuff you have on it, the more time it takes; but it is fairly simple to avoid about 99% of the time waste by some simple preplanning. For instance, if you like to "compute" in the morning, push the button your alarm and then turn your computer on and let it boot up while you are showering and shaving. Do your computing ant then shut it off when you leave for work. Same sort of thing in the evening when you get home from work. First thing in the door, turn the computer on. Then kiss the wife, change your clothes and pour a cool one. By the time you are ready to compute, the computer will be ready for you.

 My GF bitches every time she turns on her computer in the evening and I have been totally unable to teach her the easy solution to her unhappiness. After she gets home from work, it is at least an hour before she is in need of her computer. By the time she has brought in the mail, changed her clothes, feed the fish and etc. plenty time has passed for her computer to boot up if only she would turn the damn thing on when she first gets home, but, nooooo..........she would rather complain about how slow it is than to make a tiny change in her evening routine to resolve the problem.:mad:
Click to expand...

Randy:
While your basic premise is correct I believe there is one factor you haven't considered that makes computers different from most other electronic devices. That factor is "software". I have kept my computers on 24/7 from the day I first got one. In that time I have sent many a computer to the scrap heap because it could no longer handle the software I wanted to run and could not be upgraded. I have yet to trash one because the circuitry was fried. Maybe I've just been lucky, but I'm usually not.:biggrin:
 
Well, I'm not sure if it is wearing out or not. Cutting the monitor off when not in use seems to help.

Andrew, I took it off of clear type, but since the screen wasn't acting up at the time I couldn't tell if it helped.

Randy has a girl friend??????????? :biggrin::tongue::biggrin:
 
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