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15.4 Configuring Video Under Windows 98/Me/2000/XP
Windows 98/Me/
2000/XP video is
configured from the Display Properties 15.4.1 Installing or Changing Video DriversWindows 98/Me does reasonably well at detecting common video adapters and installing the proper drivers for them. However, you may need to install a video driver manually in one of the following circumstances:
To install a new or updated video adapter, first visit the video adapter manufacturer's web site and download the latest Windows 98/Me drivers for your adapter. Get the most recent release version of the driver, avoiding beta or unsupported versions. To install the driver, display the Settings page, click Advanced, choose the Adapter tab, and click Change to start the Update Device Driver Wizard. Also use this dialog to set Refresh rate. Available options depend on the combination of monitor, adapter, and driver being used. When using a PnP monitor, the usual choices are Optimal, which selects the highest refresh rate supported by both the monitor and adapter at the current resolution, and Adapter default, which simply uses the (usually low) refresh rate that the adapter defaults to. Some configurations allow you to specify actual refresh rates, e.g., 60, 70, 72, 75, and 85 Hz. Before you specify a refresh rate manually, make sure your monitor supports that refresh rate at the resolution and color depth you have selected. Some configurations do not allow changing refresh rate, in which case the refresh rate drop-down list does not appear.
When you change resolution or refresh rate, some monitors automatically adjust to the new settings and display a properly centered image. Others require changing vertical and horizontal size and centering adjustments on the monitor to display the image properly. If you select a resolution and refresh rate that the monitor cannot display, the screen may be blank or filled with wavy lines. To correct this problem, restart the computer in Safe Mode by pressing F8 during boot and choosing Safe Mode. Choose the Standard VGA driver, restart the system normally, use Display Properties to select the proper driver and display settings that your monitor supports, and then restart the system normally. 15.4.2 Changing the Screen Area SettingThe screen area setting determines how much
information is displayed on the screen by specifying the resolution
of the image that the video adapter delivers to the monitor. The
default resolution installed by Setup will be within the capabilities
of your video adapter and monitor, but may not be optimum. Use the
screen area slider in Display Properties Figure 15-2. Use the Display Properties Settings page to configure hardware settings for your video adapter and monitor![]() Although Windows 98/Me itself supports changing resolution on the fly, doing so requires that the video adapter and driver support that feature. Changing resolution with some older video adapters and drivers requires shutting down and restarting Windows. If so, Windows notifies you that a shutdown is required to put the change into effect and allows you to shut down immediately or defer doing so. If you choose the latter, configuration changes do not take effect until you later restart the system manually.
15.4.3 Enabling and Using QuickResIf you frequently need to change
resolution or color depths, the preceding
procedure gets old fast. Enabling the
Windows
98/Me QuickRes utility allows you to change resolution and color
depth on the fly. To enable QuickRes, choose Display Properties
Figure 15-3. Use the Advanced Settings dialog to configure specific settings![]()
15.4.4 Changing Performance SettingBy default, Windows 98/Me configures the
video driver it
installs to use all accelerator functions. Ordinarily, this setting
works properly and can be left as is. If you experience video
problems, including a mouse pointer that is jerky (check that your
mouse is clean first) or that disappears entirely, odd video
artifacts, or program crashes, Windows 98/Me permits you to
selectively disable some video acceleration functions (Display
Properties
15.4.5 Setting Font Size
Windows uses Small Fonts by default,
but allows you to select predefined Large Fonts, or to specify a
custom font size by choosing Other. The font size setting you select
provides a "baseline" value from
which the size of vector-based fonts used in applications is
calculated. Choosing one of the predefined settings also installs a
set of raster fonts that are used for such things as icon labels. A
common reason for using Large Fonts is when you run higher than
standard resolution, e.g., 1024 x 768 on a 15" monitor,
where using Large Fonts or a custom font size allows you to make the
text large enough to be readable. Be cautious, however. Many
applications do not display properly using anything except Small
Fonts. Note that instead of changing font size directly (Display
Properties 15.4.6 Using Color ManagementGetting consistent color across a wide range of peripherals, including monitors, scanners, and printers, is a nontrivial task, and is made more difficult by the diverse means used for producing color. Monitors produce color by illuminating phosphors. Printers may produce output that uses transmitted or reflected light to produce color by means of dyes or pigments. Scanners may capture either transmitted or reflected images. The color temperature of the lighting used to produce or view an image differs according to its source, and the gamma (in simple terms, contrast) varies with the device. With so many variables in play, the colors on your monitor are likely to be only an approximation of the original colors you scanned, and printed output is likely to differ substantially from both the original and the image on your monitor. The different methods used to produce color mean that it is impossible to render color with complete consistency. A printed copy, for example, simply does not have the dynamic range that a transparency or monitor image has. But for those doing pre-press work, some means of minimizing those differences is needed. To address this problem, Microsoft introduced Image Color Management (ICM) with Windows 95. ICM organizes the characteristics of each device (e.g., for a scanner, the color temperature of the light source and the gamma of the image sensor; for a printer, the reflectivity characteristics of its various inks) and uses those stored characteristics to make color reproduction as consistent as possible across different devices. Windows 98/Me includes the ICM V 2.0 API, which improves on the
limited capabilities of ICM V 1.0. Previously, you had to define
color characteristics for each combination of application and device.
Windows 98/Me allows you to define color management profiles, which
take into account the specific imaging color characteristics of each
input and output device and allow all installed applications to use
that shared profile to maintain color consistency. ICM
characteristics for scanners and printers are set in the drivers for
those applications. Those for monitors are set in Display Properties
Color management is an extremely complex issue. For more information, read the Microsoft ICM whitepaper, available online at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/platform/icmwp.htm. This whitepaper also contains links to various other color management resources. |
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