changing display size

[~dianne~]

Hi all!  My mother sent me an email with a question that I can't answer.  She has a Dell Laptop and is running Windows XP.  Below is her question... anybody know how to fix the problem?

On our laptop, the desktop picture has shrunk so that there is a black edge on each side of it.  We don't know how to fix it.  Do you know how?  I don't know how it happened, but it just appeared that way after Dad was working on something on line.  Let me know if you know of a way to spread the desktop out to encompass the whole size of the screen.

Thank You for any help!

Dianne

[quaxo]

Sounds like it has a widescreen one the laptop but she isn't using a right screen resolution.

Here's a basic explanation of how to change that:
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/personalize/resolution.mspx

[~dianne~]

Thank You Quaxo... we'll give that a shot.

[Astoria]

Where you choose your background picture, you have a pulldown menu with 3 options:

- Center
- Tile
-Stretch

They should select Stretch.

[~dianne~]

Thank You Astoria, it's not just the background picture though, it's the entire workspace area that has shrunk.

She did try changing the resolution, she says that she can move the slider bar, but then it just goes right back to where it was when she clicks apply & ok.

I appreciate both your efforts to help!

[Broni]

What resolution did she try to use, and at what resolution is it stuck?

[cryhelp]

You can go to display, then settings, click advanced, click the adapter tab, in lower left is list all modes button, click it and then you can increase your settings.

[~dianne~]

Well, she went back and tried adjusting the resolution again and this time it stayed where she wanted it... so problem fixed! 

Thank you all for you help!!!

Dianne

[cryhelp]

that is great.  Thank you for posting the positive results.

[Broni]

Nice