Wiindows98 second edition: better "skin" or Graphical Iinterface Display for large flatscreen?

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Tom Duprex - 25 Oct 2005 18:43 GMT

Recently got rid of 19" CRT monitor and replaced with 21 inch Samsung Flat
panel monitor. Everything is fine, Icons and labels look good. However the
display is not as bold and clear for the Windows98 Titles, menus and
dropdowns that I see on my WindowsXP machine using the same Flatpanel. I've
tried a utility called Display Set but all it does is let you change colors
and fonts of the existing Windows98 displays. I'm sure there is some kind of
graphic interface that would give the Windows98 display more snap and
clarity. I've got an updated NVidia card( NVIDA TNT2VANTA. Video88PCI-16).
I'm looking for a recommendation for a "skin" or something that would
produce a nicer display.

TIA

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Tom Duprex

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Jeff Richards - 26 Oct 2005 11:58 GMT

Make sure the screen size you are using (eg 1024x768) is correct for the
display. Flat panels work best when the video display settings match their
default pixel dimensions.

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Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)

> Recently got rid of 19" CRT monitor and replaced with 21 inch Samsung Flat
> panel monitor. Everything is fine, Icons and labels look good. However the
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
> I'm looking for a recommendation for a "skin" or something that would
> produce a nicer display.

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Tom Duprex - 26 Oct 2005 21:33 GMT

Jeff:

My Screen Area on the Settings Tab of Display properties is at 1280 X 1024.
My desktop looks great and crisp. Upon closer examination it appears that
the text on the desktop has no shadow to it. It is basically white. When I'm
in an application, Internet explorer, Word, Excell, etc. the menus and
toolbars are a black text with a white shadow on that Windows98 gray
background. Its this white shadow on this higher resolution screen that is
makes the test a little fuzzy. Is there a way to simply control the text
shadow. I mentioned the utility "Display Set" because it offers a simple way
to control colors, bold, italic, etc of menus, of the active window,
inactive window, the borders on the windows, etc. but does not have the
capability to tweak the shadow of the text. In contrast, on my XP machine
the menu text is just black. I suspect that the folks at Microsoft designed
XP to display on higher resolution screen and did away with the text shadow.
Old 98 was using crts and probably this text formatting did well. I never
had a problem on a 19 inch tube monitor.

Anyway, it would be nice to have my 98 machine's display unfuzzed, if
there's a tool out there that can do it.

Thanks for the response.

> Make sure the screen size you are using (eg 1024x768) is correct for the
> display. Flat panels work best when the video display settings match their
[quoted text clipped - 15 lines]
>> I'm looking for a recommendation for a "skin" or something that would
>> produce a nicer display.

Reply to this Message

Jeff Richards - 27 Oct 2005 11:35 GMT

The white shadow is not a part of Windows. It is an artefact of the
display, either as a result of driving the display at a resolution that
doesn't match the actual pixel resolution, or as a result of the display
technology. You could try asking in an XP group about why it doesn't happen
in XP, but it may be due to a trick which adapts text display to the
requirements of the hardware. Otherwise, change the background to white.

Signature

Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)

> Jeff:
>
[quoted text clipped - 18 lines]
>
> Thanks for the response.

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Tom Duprex - 28 Oct 2005 05:50 GMT

Jeff:

White shadow is not a part of Windows was a key piece of information. I
somehow assumed these flatscreens automatically adjusted. Using the display
controls, all I did was hit the AUTO button (I have a Samsung Syncmaster
921n) and the shadow virtually disappeared.

I had swapped this screen for the older crt. It used to be hooked up to my
XP system and it didn't occur to me that it would need to be "reset" when I
put in on the Windows98 system.

Thanks for working this issue out with me.

> The white shadow is not a part of Windows. It is an artefact of the
> display, either as a result of driving the display at a resolution that
> doesn't match the actual pixel resolution, or as a result of the display
> technology. You could try asking in an XP group about why it doesn't happen
> in XP, but it may be due to a trick which adapts text display to the
> requirements of the hardware. Otherwise, change the background to white.

Reply to this Message

Jeff Richards - 28 Oct 2005 10:19 GMT

Thanks for letting us know that you got it sorted out.

Signature

Jeff Richards
MS MVP (Windows - Shell/User)

> Jeff:
>
[quoted text clipped - 10 lines]
>
> Thanks for working this issue out with me.

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