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Hello y'all, I have a problem on startup with an 'information message' informing me of the following :
"DISPLAY SETTINGS"
" Your computer's screen resolution and colour depth are set at a very low level. You can get a better picture by increasing these settings. To do this, click this balloon. "
This is because I run an old Compaq VDU and the manual settings are just fine, if I trust XP Pro to adjust the settings I get nothing but 'Fuzz', no picture at all.
How can I prevent this 'Information' text appearing each start up?
May thanks, Scotsjames.
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Depending on how old the monitor is, you should be able to get at least 800x600 with a refresh rate of maybe 75Hz. I believe that under 800x600 XP will prompt for a higher resolution to take better advantage of the XP interface. 640x480 may also be acceptable, but not ideal.
Check the colour depth as well. 256 is useless. 16bit and (if possible) 32bit are recommended.
Assuming it's a 15" monitor it may not go to 1024x768, or you may have to drop the refresh rate. Anything less than 75Hz will produce noticeable screen flicker. (75Hz flickers for me!) 85Hz is ideal but even at 800x600 you may not be able to achieve that, so try for around 70-75.
If the monitor looses lock on an out of range setting, it should revert to the previous "working" setting after around 10secs.
My GOD, a monitor that runs @ 50Hz and goes all the way to 60!
Look at getting a new monitor. 19" in a CRT would be the way to go. If not then a 17". With a half reasonable video card XP will be a lot more enjoyable.
XP almost cries out for 32 bit colour and a minimum of 1024x768.
Most of us access this site for interesting solutions to out of the way problems.
I think it is a wonderful testimony to Compaq that they produced such quality in the earlier monitor equipment enabling those items such a useful life. It is also good news that complex and sophisticated OS's such as XP can have such a 'backward compatability' with more aged equipment. As it happens this is a secondary, backup system, that I employ for emergencies.
To sneer, or attempt to humiliate or diminish another user is not the way forward. Even if hidden under the guise of 'misplaced humour'.
In the end the solution to my problem was supplied by sparrow.
Kelly and Scots..
I want to thank you both for your amusing banter and your solution. Today at work I encountered a clinician making inadvertant changes to the resolution/display settings of our radiology diagnostic workstations here in the hospital because of this system tray message and our recent upgrade to Windows XP. When the user clicked the message they initiated a change to 32 bit mode. These 5K resolution grayscale monitors will not process images correctly in any mode other than 8bit/256 colors, so this immediately rendered the workstation non-functional. Thus my search for a resolution, which landed me in this forum and on this page. So Paul, there may be a number of reasons we don't want this to use higher bit resolutions and therfore don't want this message to appear. In my case it only served to confuse the end user who thought they were doing a 'good thing'! LOL
Lisa
If you despise balloon tips, like I do, you can go to Doug Knox , under XP Fixes, and download a vbs script to kill them, or you can download TweakUI from MS Powertoys and disable them with that.
I know that wasn't the question, but this is for anyone who might stumble on this thread doing a search.
Try this?
You're welcome!
there may be a number of reasons we don't want this to use higher bit resolutions and therfore don't want this message to appear. In my case it only served to confuse the end user who thought they were doing a 'good thing'! 
LOL
