Back in the day when we all used CRT screens changing the resolution was possibly the easiest free method of making everything bigger on the screen in one swoop. Unfortunately now that we are using the modern flat TFT screens things are a little more complex. Because of this I strongly recommend that you read my short article on the background of screen size and resolution before continuing.
Open up the Windows Control Panel by going to Start and selecting Control Panel from the menu.
If there is no Control Panel in your Start Menu then your school's technician or network administrator has stopped you from being able to access it!
Windows Key, Arrow Keys (to select Control Panel), Enter
In the Control Panel, double-click the display Display icon.
D (until Display is highlighted), Enter
If your Control Panel is shown in Category View then click the link that reads 'Switch to Classic View'.
F6 (until the task pane is highlighted)
TAB (until 'Switch to Classic View' is highlighted)
ENTER
The Display Properties window should pop up. Choose the Settings tab.
In order to change the resolution you adjust the slider control in the bottom-right of the Window. It will probably range from 640x480 or 800x600 on the far left to over 104x768 on the right hand side, but this depends on the age of your computer. As illustrated on my background information page the lower the resolution the larger the on-screen graphics.
You can also adjust the number of colours windows can display. It's best to leave this on the highest value possible, though dropping it slightly might increase system performance slightly.
Click on OK
A warning message might pop up as shown. Sometimes when you set certain screens into certain resolutions they can go black and not recover. Should this happen, simply wait 15 seconds and the display should come back on its former resolution.
On CRT screens as you alter the screen resolution, the refresh rate might also change automatically. If the refresh rate is too low then the screen will visibly flicker, which tends to tire people's eyes and could even potentially trigger an epileptic seizure.
After you have changed your resolution, you can check the refresh rate by clicking on the Advanced button. A dialog will come up. Click on the Monitor tab.
The Refresh Frequency box should read at least 75 Hz. Anything below 75 Hz can cause avoidable headaches and eye fatigue. You should set it to as high a value as you need - apparently 95% of people can't notice a flicker at 85 Hz so this is usually a good choice.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.
Privacy Policy. Contact Me. Charlie Danger MMVI.