Help! 8 Year Old Outsmarts Computer

[RobS]

Actually, I think my 8 year old son has outsmarted his dad. He has changed the display settings on our computer and I cannot change it back. As best as we can tell he made a change in the Control Panel/Display/Settings screen. The fonts, icons and everything are now HUGE! as is the settings screen. Trouble is, it won't scroll down to see the choices towards the bottom of that screen where we think he was playing.

I did try a setting called "magnify" but that only made everything bigger yet. Any ideas to get us back to normal? Thanks /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Green_in_MI]

If you "right click" anywhere on screen(not on a shortcut) you can get to the screen properties box. You can readjust and then apply your screen sizes there.

 

[RobS]

Thanks Green but I've tried that. The trouble is the screen properties box is now so huge that it doesn't fit the screen so I can't get to the choices towards the bottom. It doesn't scroll either. Are there keystroke shortcuts for the choices I need to use? /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

 

[rf33]

Rob,

Try right clicking on the title bar of the display properties dialog, and then selecting the "move" option. Then you can move the dialog around using the arrows on the keyboard. I hope that this helps.

 

[RoyJackson]

You don't mention which OS you're using, but this works for 95, 98 and will probably work for you.

First, right click your desktop and select REFRESH. I doubt if that works...but might get the icons in a position you can use them.

Reboot your machine and enter SAFE MODE (95 used the F5 key, 98 uses the F8 key). As your machine boots, watch for "Loading Window XX". You'll want to hit the F5 or F8 key at that point. This is pretty quick, so you might have to try it a time or two. You should then see a boot menu...select SAFE MODE. This will start the computer with a minimum of drivers and, if your machine does what mine does, it'll start in 640x480 resolution (which is what you may be in now, BTW). Then, go to start-settings-control panel-display (or, just right click your desktop and select PROPERTIES) and click on the APPEARANCE tab. You can resize your icons and font there. To do what you describe, he had to change several settings. Icon size should be 32 or so....the font should be 8 or 10 regular (no Bold or Italics). Then click APPLY.
You might also want to click on the SETTINGS tab and see what's there too. I suggest you set the RESOLUTION at 800x600. Then click APPLY and OK.
Then reboot your computer and let it load normally.
Assuming your son just made changes in the settings, this should correct your problem.
If it doesn't correct your problem, got to START-SETTINGS-CONTROL PANEL-ACCESSIBILITY. I didn't load this on my machine, but it seems to me (when I did have it loaded a while back) that there are settings there for the folks who with really poor vision. One of those settings may have been selected.

 

[RobS]

Thanks guys. I'm still not sure what happened or how it got fixed but it's all better now. Our nephew was over today to watch the kids for a bit so he worked on it. He did something with the resolution, so he may have done what you mentioned Roy. Everything is a bit smaller than normal now, but at least I can see the entire screen.

Thanks again /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Rob,

Still go in and follow Roy's suggestions. You should be able to get the size and resolution you want that way. Besides, knowing how to go in there and make some changes is something you might need in the future. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Good luck!

 

[frank_f15]

ROB. my 18 mo old grandson loves to go into poppies computer rm and play with keyboard, so i let him. don't know what he did but took me 10 min. to get my puter straightened out. so he is being punished, only 10 christmas gifts for him /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif/w3tcompact/icons/blush.gif

 

[RoyJackson]

Everything is a bit smaller than normal now, but at least I can see the entire screen.

He probably set the resolution at max (best settings for gamers).
Try the right click on the Desktop, PROPERTIES, then the SETTINGS tab. There is a slider scale on the right side of the PROPERTIES screen. I'll wager it's all the way to the right. Slide it to midscale and click APPLY (a pop up screen will ask if you want to change with, or without rebooting...select "without rebooting").
As with any other Windows screens, you can drag this one around, so move it out of the way of the DESKTOP icons. You'll then see a screen asking if you want to keep these settings. Either select YES or try another resolution.

 

[Buster57]

My 10 year old is teaching his mother how to use the computer. I get frustrated and always get in a bad mood(understatement to say the least!) so my son will have to do this job for me.
His next student will have to be his aunt, the doctor...Seems the computer will never listen to her!