Datasheet

PART I

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INSTALLATION, CONFIGURATION, AND CUSTOMIZATION

Resolution, icons, wallpaper, screen savers,

and themes

Personalizing a desktop is a fun way to make a computer “yours.” You can

change nearly everything you see on the desktop, including the wallpaper,

icons, and desktop resolution. If you don’t like something you see, odds are

you can change it with a few judicious clicks.

Desktop resolution

Desktop resolution is a combination of what modes your video adapter is

capable of and what resolutions your monitor can display. Most new video

adapters today have no problem running at 1600 (horizontal) × 1200 (verti-

cal) resolution at 32-bit color. Older cards lack the onboard horsepower and

memory to render all the computations needed at that rate.

Monitors vary and will play a role in what resolutions to use from your

video card. Older monitors will not be able to display high resolutions; even

newer LCD monitors will not clearly display higher resolutions.

Resolution is changed by right-clicking the desktop, clicking Properties,

and then clicking the Settings tab (see Figure 3.1). You can select the screen

resolution and color quality in this dialog box; feel free to play with the set-

tings until you find one you like. If the screen appears to “paint” more slowly

than you like, such as with noticeably jerky movements of your mouse cursor

when you move it, try lowering the color quality from 32-bit to 24- or 16-bit.

This exponentially reduces the number of calculations the graphics card has

to perform and will help with slow redraw rates.

LCD monitors are the coolest thing to hit computing in years. You can

ditch your bulky, power-gobbling CRT and switch over to a svelte, energy-

efficient LCD monitor, incidentally reclaiming a lot of your real-life desk-

top’s real estate. There are a few things to watch out for when you go

shopping for one, however.

First, you have to be sure your video card and LCD monitor can talk to

each another. Either your LCD monitor should support an analog connec-

tion or your video card should have a digital output connection (most com-

monly a DVI connector). Most LCDs support analog input, though there are

some that do not. Check to see that you have the necessary connections

available and buy the necessary cable to connect them if you don’t have one

in the LCD box.

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