Turned On Computer and Everything Is Large

Subscriber Kelley wrote with a couple problems:

Hi Terry,

I turned on my computer yesterday morning but when it loaded up, all of my icons were very large. When I open programs like Word, Wordperfect and even Internet Explorer and AOL, and the font, screen and everything is large. I have no idea what happened.

I did a Panda Scan and no viruses showed up. I also have the program RegCure for Vista. Nothing has helped. I tried doing System Restore (have never successfully been able to run one in Vista) so that didn’t work since it failed as usual.

Any ideas what happened? It worked fine before I turned it off that day and I did not download any programs.

Thank you so much!!

Kelley

I wrote to Kelley to tell her that it ounds like her video resolution got changed to 800×600 (Vista and XP won’t go to fewer pixels than that). she probably normally uses 1024×768 or higher. More dots on the screen means they have to be smaller, which makes the fonts and icons smaller.

The fix is to right-click on a blank spot on the desktop. From the popup menu, pick Properties.

Then, select the Settings tab. On the Settings tab, change the resolution.

Hi Terry,

Thank you for writing me back. When I right click anywhere on the desktop, the option for Properties does not come up. Only view, sort, delete, new and Personalization.

I am running Vista.

Thank you,
Kelley

She also wrote with a problem running a computer game:

Hi Terry,

My son just recently purchased the PC game Crysis Special Edition. I tried installing it but it gets stuck and then gives me a 1311 error. After searching online, it seems there are numerous people with the same issue. For those that have been a bit more computer savvy and are knowledgeable enough to make changes to their computer to install it, are still having difficulty with the mouse-pointer relationship.

Do you have any idea how to install and make it function? I am not willing to change too much on my computer settings to make this work since it has been running just fine and I am afraid I will mess it up and not be able to return it to its normal state without have to format the HD. I feel bad for him because he spent money for the game and of course, once opened, you cannot return.

I am running Vista (yuck) on a Dell PC. I have tons of space so no problem there.

Thank you so much!!
Kelley

I wrote back to Kelley to tell her that I’m not a computer gamer and have not tried Crysis. However, I do know that it’s probably the most demanding computer game today in terms of the CPU and video card required to get playable refresh rates.

She’s pursuing the solution in the right way — via web searching. The 1311 error code is probably a Crysis code. It is not structured like a Microsoft error code.

A quick Google search indicates it could be a security program blocking the installation. However, I STRONGLY STRONGLY STRONGLY recommend against connecting a computer to the Internet without firewall, antivirus, and antispyware programs running.

She could try unplugging her computer from her cable/dsl modem, home network, or router, turn off the firewall on her computer temporarily, and install. Then, turn the firewall back on. Reboot. Then, connect to the modem or router again.

Kelley wrote back:

Thank you so much for your advice. I have already told him he might want to try and sell it to get part of his money back (I don’t want to mess up my computer for a game).

Have a good one!

Kelley