How to Adjust Your PC Monitor Settings

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You can adjust the display settings that apply to your computer monitor.

Computer monitors are devices that are used to display images generated by personal computers (PC). You can adjust the settings on a monitor that is connected to your computer to achieve the best-quality image available or an image that best suits your personal viewing requirements. Most PC monitors have controls that allow you to adjust the image. Microsoft's Windows operating system (OS) also contains a set of controls that you can adjust to optimize your monitor. Settings that are often configured include screen resolution, color quality and refresh rate.

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Step 1

Open "Control Panel" by clicking the Windows "Start" icon at the bottom left of your display screen and selecting "Control Panel." After the Control Panel window opens, you will see a number of category headings.

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Step 2

Click the "Appearance and Personalization" category. The Control Panel window now displays a number of new categories. Click the "Display" category title. This will bring up a list of monitor settings that you can adjust in a list on the left of the Control Panel window. The default item, which is displayed in the right of the Control Panel window, allows you to select the size at which icons appear on your monitor. The default is small icons, but if you have trouble seeing small icons, you can select icons to be medium-size, which makes them 125 percent larger than small icons.

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Step 3

Click "Screen Resolution" from the list on the left of the Control Panel window. Choose your display type from the drop-down list. For example, if you are working with a laptop, you should choose "Mobile PC Display." Select the resolution from the drop-down list. Resolution is defined in terms of the number of horizontal and vertical pixels that make up the monitor display image. Choose the highest number of pixels possible to get the sharpest image.

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Step 4

Click "Advanced settings" to open a new configuration window. Click the "monitor" tab in this new window. You can adjust the monitor refresh rate and the colors from this tab. The refresh rate refers to the number of times the image displayed on your monitor is recreated from information sent by your computer. Higher refresh rates are less tiring for your eyes, so set the highest refresh rate possible from the drop-down list. Choose the maximum number of colors that your monitor can display from the drop-down list. The more colors your monitor displays, the more true-to-life photographs, videos and images will appear.

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Step 5

Click "OK" to save the monitor settings and close the Advanced Settings window. Click "OK" to save your screen resolution settings in the Control Panel window. Close the Control Panel window by clicking the "x" in the red box at the top left of the Control Panel window. Your monitor will display images using the settings you have configured.

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