nepc KnowledgeBase - Monitor/ Display Hints

Monitor/ Display Hints

Changing Display Settings Cleaning Monitors Power-Saving Changing a Display Adapter Disposal of old Monitors

Monitor/ Display Hints

Changing Display Settings (95+ & NT)

Right-Click on your desktop and select Properties. Here you can change Background, Appearance, Screen Saver and Settings. Some of these changes may require you to restart your computer.

Most are cosmetic changes apart from the last tab (Settings). Available options depend upon your display adaptor (Video card) and monitor type. The Settings tab lets you change:

The number of colors your monitor shows (16, 256, 32bit or 64bit). Unless you work in graphics, even 256 is OK. Web graphics should generally be limited to this anyway. The higher the color level, the more memory will be taken-up, so you may find your computer is a bit faster showing less colors.

The Resolution of the screen (the number of dots [pixels] across and down your screen). This used to be 640x480, now 800x600 is more normal.1024x768 fits more on your screen but may make things harder to read. If you are creating web pages and previewing them on a higher resolution, you may find that someone with a 600x800 screen might bnot see all the page at once.

Cleaning Monitors

Follow manufacturers recommendations for cleaning screens. As a guide, clean you monitor screen with a barely damp (water only) lint-free cloth (with the monitor OFF). Do not use any detergents etc since special coatings may be damaged.

A mild-soapy cloth can clear grime off a monitor case, but be prepared for plastic to yellow with age anyway. Never stick or blow anything into the vent grid holes, and ensure they are well-ventilated. Monitors are only serviceable by specialists and contain capacitors which store charge so never open one up.

Power-Saving

Monitors use up to 99% of a computer's power so it makes sense to have them switch off to save energy. This depends upon your setup and can be configured through Right-clicking on the desktop, selecting properties and then the Screen Saver Tab.

Under the Settings-Advanced tab, you can specify you monitor and whether it has energy-saving features. If 'Energy Star' appears, or is written on your monitor, then it is compliant with the 99% rule.

It may be useful to set the monitor to go into standby or turn off after a certain amount of time.

Screen savers can be password-protected. Some are provided on the Windows disk (Add more through Start-Settings-Control Panel-Add/Remove Programs-Windows Setup) and there are many third party ones availble. Most are simply gimmicks of little use and certain ones may cause your computer to crash. A screen saver still uses power- better to turn a monitor off.

Changing a Display Adapter

If you cannot obtain a resolution above 480x640, or you want more colours and you know the type of graphics card you have can manage better, then you can try to change the video driver. This is done through the Desktop Right-Click and selecting Properties-Settings-Advanced. Despite its promises, Windows 95+ (not NT) is more 'Plug and Pray' than 'Play' and it doesn't always pick up the right driver for the display. A warning: this process always requires restarting and may take you a bit of trial and error.

In Windows 95+ if you cannot recover from a change of video display driver or settings you have made, pressing the F5 key on a reboot usually leads you to 'Safe Mode', where you should be able to restore the standard VGA display adapter driver and at least reboot to windows again.
Windows NT (being less widely compatible) does things in a more controlled way, and you should press the 'test' button before commiting any changes t the display settings. On bootup, NT offers you the chance to start in basic VGA mode on its blue boot screen.

Disposal of old Monitors

Old IT equipment should never really be dumped in houshold waste tips. Monitors contain dangerous materials such as lead. Therefore disposal should be through official council channels. Otherwise, occasionally a friendly computer refurbisher may take things away for you, in the hope that something might be slavageable.

If it still works, there are plenty of charities and schools who might relish an old PC being passed on. Most equipment (386dx+) post 1994 is serviceable in the right hands. Earlier stuff may not be of as much use.

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