Computer display flipped 90 degrees. Help!

August 30, 2009 7:59 PM

How do I fix my computer display? All of a sudden, everything on screen is rotated 90 degrees clockwise. Mouse controls are similarly changed: left is now up, etc. Resulted from a mistaken key combination, but I can't figure out which keys I hit. Running Windows Vista on a Toshiba Satellite laptop.
posted by goatdog to computers & internet (7 comments total)

Ctrl+Alt+Arrow Key often rotates the display.
posted by surenoproblem at 8:01 PM on August 30, 2009

You should be able to hit Ctrl+Alt+ an arrow key to orient the screen in different ways.

I know on XP you can also right click on the desktop and look at the graphics options which would go through a subscreen with one choice (rotation) then give you different ways you can orient the screen.
posted by theichibun at 8:03 PM on August 30, 2009

Should be Shift+Alt/Shift+Ctrl + Up/Down
posted by CapitalWasteland at 8:03 PM on August 30, 2009

Thanks! That would have been hard to get used to.
posted by goatdog at 8:08 PM on August 30, 2009

By the way, this makes for an excellent practical joke when a coworker steps away from their computer. They come back, the screen is upside down, hilarity ensues.
posted by spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints at 8:25 PM on August 30, 2009 [2 favorites]

Also by the way, you can usually get rid of this kind of surprise by opening whatever extra foolery your graphics card driver installer added to the Windows Explorer desktop right-click menu, finding the part that refers to hot keys, and turning them off.

I have never actually seen graphics driver hot keys used for anything useful - they always seem to cause the kind of surprise you've just had.
posted by flabdablet at 5:23 AM on August 31, 2009

Also also by the way, for anybody who gets pranked per spikeleemajortomdickandharryconnickjrmints: spin your mouse 180° so that the cord comes out under your wrist, and pretend nothing is wrong.
posted by flabdablet at 5:25 AM on August 31, 2009