Window resizes incorrectly

May 6, 2008 12:36 PM

When I click the icon to make my current window fill the screen, it makes the window bigger than the screen - three of the sides align but on the right hand side the scroll bar and red X are off the screen.

I'm on Windows XP and run two monitors - it's the left one and it doesn't have the computer status bar along the bottom. I haven't changed any monitor settings recently.

This is a lot more irritating than you would think. Has anyone come across this problem?

posted by meech to computers & internet (9 comments total)

Did this just start, or was it normal at some point in the past?

Can you manually adjust the settings on that monitor, like H/V-Size and positioning?
posted by owtytrof at 12:42 PM on May 6

Is it a LCD or a CRT monitor? It looks to me like a monitor issue, not an XP one; you probably have a menu or option button on your monitor that allows you to fit the image on your screen (using Horizontal and Vetical sizes).
posted by ddaavviidd at 12:45 PM on May 6

I have seen weird behavior similar to this with my dual-monitor setup, but it is hard to describe or pin down. So basically, one monitor has the Windows "bar" along the bottom, and the other doesn't, but some windows on the non-barred monitor act as if they are trying to reserve the height of the toolbar, and others do not.

Does your problem only occur with one program's windows, or consistently for all windows?
posted by misterbrandt at 12:59 PM on May 6

Check the settings on the monitor, for sure. Sounds like the display is pushed off-screen on the right hand side. If you change the positioning or H-size, you ought to be able to determine whether the display is clipped by monitor settings or by Windows.
posted by caution live frogs at 1:14 PM on May 6

Is the right side of the task bar (clock, etc) pushed off to the right as well? If so, then definitely your screen is larger than your monitor. Use the buttons to change the size and center it.
posted by rhizome at 1:36 PM on May 6

Yep it was normal at some stage.
It is LCD.
It resizes incorrectly on all windows - Word, itunes, internet.

I have changed the horizontal positioning so I can now see the right hand side - but the left side has now gone - it seems like it needs to be squashed. That would suggest that it is a windows problem, not a monitor problem?
posted by meech at 2:07 PM on May 6

Gone into Monitor set up in Control Panel and it offers up a squash screen - have used that and can now see full window. I think I have definitely squashed my screen a little unnaturally - so I guess this works as a patch up but not a fix...
posted by meech at 2:13 PM on May 6

Temporarily, the "fix" may be as simple as re-booting your computer. Depending on your video card hardware (or integrated video solution), and its drivers, view port corruption is an ongoing issue, particularly for video solutions that share system memory. Even hardware driven multi-monitor setups can experience corruption that whacks their view ports occasionally, but if the problem is only occasional, many people just re-boot when it happens, and go on.

ATI's version of a view port manager HydraVision is buggy enough that it has got a bad rap, but if you're using ATI graphics hardware, at least make sure your HydraVision is up to date. If you have nVidia video chipsets, nView is your view port pony. In my experience, nView is the superior product, but the advice is the same: make sure your video driver and nView versions are up to date. Other Windows window/view port managers are available by other graphics chip providers, but ATI and nVidia share about 80% of the market, so its likely you'll be served by one of these.
posted by paulsc at 3:51 PM on May 6

If you could change the horizontal positioning using your LCD's controls and now you see a different part of the screen, your LCD is set wrong. It will probably have an "auto adjust" button somewhere; press that. If it doesn't, it may have "clock" and "phase" adjustments available somewhere on its onscreen menu; play with those (clock first, until you see your whole screen with no vertical beat artifacts; then phase, until you see no pixel tearing). Make sure Windows is set to feed your LCD with video at its native resolution before fooling with clock and phase.
posted by flabdablet at 7:24 PM on May 6