Why does the screen area of my monitor sometimes, not always, resize itself after the computer is started up? I like to always have it at 800 x 600 but sometimes it resets itself to 640 x 480 which is too big!

Thanks for your help!

Hi,
This has to do with your Display Adapter, which is found under Control Panel/Display Adapter.
I can't give specific steps as to how to fix this, unless I know your windows version, like 98, XP, etc.
But, you will have to uninstall your current Display Adapter, then reinstall it, looking for upgrades from the manufacturer's website.
Best wishes,
fredg

Yes the problem is your Display Adapter, but you probably don't have to uninstall anything.

The first thing you need to do is find out exactly what Display/Video Adapter you have installed. You can go to Display>Settings in Control Panel and press the Advanced button (should work on most Windows versions) to see what it says. However, it may not show the correct adapter. You may need to go back to the system documentation or manufacturer to determine what exact brand and model od display adapter you have.

Usually, when a system resets to 640x480 its losing the adapter totally and reverting to default SVGA. If this happens frequently, you may need to replace the drivers. To do so you need the exact adapter you have installed.

If you need more help with this, please let us know the make and modelk of computer and the video adapter. Also Windows version.

Hi,
Yes, you will probably need to uninstall, then reinstall your Display Adapter, as suggested by your manufacturer's website.
This allows for a cleaner and much better re-install, also suggested at the manufacturer's website.
If you have, such as Nvidia Adapter, go to Nvidia website, read their suggested methods of re-installation.
Best wishes,
fredg

Hi it's me again, I haven't done anything yet as I'm afraid I'll screw something else up. If I uninstall the driver how do I reinstall? I have windows ME and a Nvidia Adapter.
Thanks again for your help!
~Mary Lou

Mary Lou,
You do NOT want to uninstall the video driver except as a last resort. To do that can be complex.

First, make sure you have the correct driver. Then go to Either the Advanced area under Display Settings, or go to Device Manager and select the Display adapter. There should be a choice there to update or reinstall the drivers. Select that and it will prompt you for the location of the drivers. If you have a disk navigate to the folder on the disk. If you downloaded it to your hard drive, make sure you uncompress and then point to the folder where you uncompressed the files.

The worst that might happen is that your video drivers get messed up totally and you can't get into Windows. This can be fixed by booting to Safe Mode and changing the video to the default SVGA settings. But then you will have to reload the drivers and change back to the correct video adapter.