Adjusting the display settings in Windows 7



When you install Windows 7, it attempts to detect your computer’s graphics card (also called display adapter) and monitor, and it tries to set the display properties to an optimal state. Three variables it tries to deal with are the desktop pixel resolution, the color bit depth, and the monitor’s vertical refresh rate.

Open the display properties window by opening Control Panel, clicking Appearance and Visualization, clicking Personalization, and finally by clicking Display Settings. The screen should resemble the one shown in Figure 1. You can also right-click on desktop and click on Personalize. From there click on Display Settings.

Figure 1: The Display Settings dialog box



Resolution

The slider on the Display Settings dialog box permits you to adjust the pixel resolution. Below it, you will see a measurement such as “1024 by 768 pixels.” A pixel is the tiniest component of a computer image; everything you see on your computer screen is made up of a series of pixels. The resolution numbers indicate the number of pixels across the screen by the number of pixels down; thus, a resolution of 1024 x 768 is 1,024 pixels across and 768 pixels down. The higher you set your resolution, the sharper the screen will look and the more you will be able to display on your Windows desktop—but everything will look a bit smaller. This view is often referred to as “desktop real estate.”

Note: Windows Aero, the desktop interface used by Windows 7, uses your system’s 3D graphics card and its memory; the maximum displayable resolution depends upon the amount of video memory on the graphics card. Your computer requires at least 256MB of video memory to display a resolution of 1600 x 1200 and at least 64MB of memory to reach 1280 x 1024.

You can adjust the slider by dragging it with the mouse. Choose a pixel resolution and click Apply to see it in action. The screen will go blank for a moment and then re-appear at the new resolution.

If you hate it, adjust the slider again. Experiment with resolutions until you find one you prefer.

Color depth

The monitor’s color depth is also referred to as its bit depth, and it shows how many colors each pixel can display. Your Windows 7 installation may have defaulted to 16 or 32 bits. Here is how they translate into actual colors.

Back in the olden days, computers had one color. They were called monochrome. You may remember black screens with green or amber lettering on them. Those computers were capable of exactly two bits per pixel. Each pixel was either turned on or turned off.

Each bit is a simple 0 or 1. Combining several bits results in more combinations. The more bits that are available, the greater number the number of combinations. A two-bit display has two combinations: green (or amber) or black.

Then came with 16-color computers. They were capable of displaying 4 bits per pixel. Each bit has two combinations, so multiply those two combinations four times (2 x 2 x 2 x 2) and you arrive at the computers’ capabilities of 16 colors.

Two hundred fifty-six color computers, therefore, were capable of 8 bits per pixel. Sixteen-bit display modes (sometimes called “high color”) display 65,536 colors. Twenty-four-bit color is considered “true color”; each pixel can be 1 of 16,777,216 colors.

Now, 32-bit color modes are sort of confusing. They can’t display pixels in 1 of 4,294,967,296 colors, as the arithmetic would seem to indicate. They actually operate at 24 bits per pixel, plus an 8-bit alpha channel. The alpha channel can be used to adjust the transparency of pixels.

To change the color depth of your display, simply click the drop-down menu under the word Colors. You will probably see only two options: Highest (32-bit) and Medium (16-bit).

Refresh rate

CRT monitors have variable vertical refresh rates. The refresh rate is the number of times per second the screen displays an image. It is measured in hertz, which means cycles per second. One hertz means once per second; 60Hz means 60 times each second.

It happens that 60Hz is the lowest refresh rate that most displays can achieve. The downside of a 60Hz refresh rate is that it causes a noticeable flicker, and if you watch at a CRT monitor set at 60Hz long enough you will probably get a massive headache. Therefore, you want your monitor to be flicker-free. You want the highest refresh rate that your monitor can display at your chosen resolution and color depth.

Click Advanced Settings to see the dialog box shown in Figure 2. Note that everything is grayed out except for the List All Modes button.

FIGURE 2: The Advanced display settings properties dialog box



Note: This is not an issue for LCD flat panel displays. Even if you set your LCD monitor to 60Hz, you won’t see any flicker. LCD displays behave differently than CRTs, and refresh is not an issue for these types of monitors.

Click the List All Modes button and another, smaller window, shown in Figure 3, appears. The List All Modes window bears a list of every single resolution and color depth that Windows thinks your monitor can display. Each resolution and color depth is followed by a refresh rate in hertz.

FIGURE 3: The List All Modes window



Your computer’s current resolution, color depth, and refresh rate should be highlighted. Scroll the list and check out the options for the same resolution and color depth. If there is a higher refresh rate offered, click it and click OK. Then, click Apply on the advanced display settings dialog box. The refresh rate will change, and you should notice a more stable image with fewer flickers.

If, for some reason, the refresh rate makes your monitor go nuts, press the Escape key to revert to the previous refresh rate. As noted earlier in the section on resolution, Windows may think your monitor is capable of more than it actually is.