CHAPTER 8: Customizing Your Computer

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Adjusting the desktop display settings

Tips & Tricks

If you are using a monitor, you can adjust the screen settings for brightness, contrast, and horizontal and vertical image position using the controls on the front of your monitor. For more information about these adjustments, see your monitor’s user guide.

Adjusting the color depth and screen area are two of the most basic display settings you may need to change. You can also adjust settings such as the screen background and screen saver.

Adjusting the color depth

Color depth is the number of colors your screen displays. Various image types require various color depths for optimum appearance. For example, simple color drawings may appear adequately in 256 colors while color photographs need millions of colors to be displayed with optimum quality.

Windows lets you choose from several color depth settings. We recommend that you use the 32-bit True Color setting at all times.

If the color in your images seems “false” or “jumpy,” especially after you have played a game or run a video-intensive program, check the color depth setting and return it to 32-bit True Color, if necessary.

To change the color depth:

1Click Start, then click Control Panel. The Control Panel window opens. If your Control Panel is in Category View, click Appearance and Themes.

2Click/Double-click the Display icon. The Display Properties dialog box opens.

3Click the Settings tab.

Single-monitor computer

Dual-monitor computer

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