Computing for the Bewildered. By Bill Hayles
Hello again.
The gremlins were really at work when my March column was transferred
from PC (which is what I use) to Apple Mac (which "The Grapevine" is
prepared on). The characters corresponding to ASCII codes 128 to 254
don't necessarily coincide on these two platforms, as the March column
demonstrated! I hope it gave you a good laugh, and that you still
understood what I was on about through your giggles. What it proves is
that anybody can come a cropper when it comes to computers, even those
who are supposed to know what we're doing!
In our classes at The Oasis Centre, we've been looking at ways of
improving the display we see on the screen, through using various
features of the Control Panel. What I'm about to say applies to
Windows 95, 98 and ME, and, with only very minor differences to
Windows NT, 2000 and XP.
The monitor screen you look at is made up of many thousands of
individual dots, called pixels. At any given time, a single pixel can
only display a single colour. What is called the screen resolution is
measured by the number of pixels across the screen, and the number
down. The basic screen resolution, which any PC less than about 10
years old can display, is 640x480, that is 640 pixels across by 480
down. Usually, we also add the number of colours available, either by
number or bits for example 640x480x16. That particular resolution has
the name VGA, and is what a computer displays unless it has been set up
or tweaked. All recent computers are capable of considerably better
resolutions, as are monitors, so it would pay you to check whether your
computer has been set up how you want it. The limits of what can be
achieved are set by a combination of your monitor and the video card
(that part of the inside of your computer which ends in the 15 pin
socket you plug your monitor into!).
To do this we need to get at the Display Properties. Open "My
Computer", and from that, "Control Panel". The Control Panel is where
you fiddle with your computer set up. Some icons are best left alone,
others you are perfectly capable of using. One of these is Display.
Open the Display applet (it has a monitor as an icon) and you will see
that this is where you can play with screen savers, the colour settings
for Windows, etc. If there's enough interest, we may look at these in
a later column, but for today, we're opening the tab marked "settings"
Here you will see details of your video subsystem - your card and
monitor, or what Windows *thinks* is your video subsystem. If you see
something like "unknown monitor" or "Windows VGA", your computer hasn't
been set up properly, and you will either need to install the correct
drivers, or, if that last clause made no sense to you, seek
professional advice. Assuming your card and monitor are correct, you
will have panels where you can set the number of colours and the
resolution. The resolution slider (Windows calls it the "screen area"
slider) will only allow you to select "legal" combinations such as
800x600 or 1024x768. To try a resolution, you need to move the slider,
select the number of colours (I suggest 16 bits as a minimum, which is
65536 colours) and click "Apply". Windows will then ask you to confirm
that you want to try the settings, and apply them. You then have 15
seconds to make your mind up whether to keep them or not. If you don't
confirm in 15 seconds, your old settings will be restored. The reason
for this is that if, for some reason, the settings you're trying don't
work, so that what you see is a mess, you only have to wait and
everything comes back to normal. If you want to keep your new settings,
you have to confirm during the 15 second test.
The higher the resolution, the smaller the icons and characters will
appear on the screen. Therefore there are practical limits as to what
is sensible. I wouldn't like to run a 15" monitor at 1024x768, and I
would imagine most people would prefer 800x600. However, on the 17"
monitors that are becoming increasingly common, a resolution of
1024x768 makes perfect sense and, if you're the lucky owner of a 19" or
larger monitor you may wish to try 1152x864 or even 1600x1200 if your
video card will allow it. If you want a higher resolution, but wish
the icons etc to be larger, there is a solution. Click the Advanced
box, and a whole new set of tabs opens up. Under General, you have the
option of small fonts (the default) or large fonts. Try the large,
they may suit you. Also while we're being advanced, click on the
Adaptor tab and check that the refresh rate is set to Optimal and not
Adapter Default. If you're given a list of rates, such as 65Hz, 75Hz,
etc, be careful. Setting this too high (over 75Hz) has an outside
chance of damaging your monitor if the monitor isn't designed to take
it. The Optimal setting takes into account the limitations of your
hardware.
Having got your screen to perfection, it's time to turn to the mouse.
Have you ever lost track of where the mouse pointer is on the screen?
Haven't we all! There's an easy answer to this and other rodent
irritations.
Back in the Control Panel, select Mouse. There are three tabs. The
Buttons tab lets you choose whether to be right handed or left handed
(this simply reverses the function of the two buttons), and the speed
at which you must double click to open a program. If you find your
double click is too fast or (more likely) too slow, here's where you
can change and test it,
The second tab, pointers, lets you select from a whole range of
different schemes for mouse pointers, hourglasses etc. Choose one that
suits you. Finally, the motion tab. Here, you can select how far the
mouse pointer moves on the screen for a given movement of the mouse.
If you're a bit inaccurate with your pointing, set the pointer speed
slow; if you hate keep lifting the mouse off the pad and putting it
back on the other end, set it faster. And finally, discovering where
the pointer is. If you check the "show pointer trails" box, your mouse
will leave a trail behind itself when you move it, so you will never
lose it!
My classes continue at The Oasis every Saturday. The first and third
Saturdays are more formal sessions for beginners; the second and fourth
Saturdays are where we continue with "Project Oasis", building and
configuring an old computer, and also talking about anything that
crops up. Material for the classes can be found at http://billnot.com
That's it for this month, but if you have a question you'd like me to
answer in the column,or maybe an idea for a topic, please e-mail it to
questions@billnot.com, If you don't have e-mail, you can always leave
your question at the CopiShop. However, I can't guarantee to answer
questions personally.
My Costa Blanca Expats Internet Group can be found at
http://groups.costablancaexpats.net
and the "Rogues' Gallery" at
If you have been, thanks for reading this.