# Honey, I've Shrunk the Computer... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 4, 2010, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-ive-shrunk-the-computer/534901 "2010-04-04T12:16:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-ive-shrunk-the-computer/534901/1 "2010-04-04T12:16:21Z")
Or, more precisely, the computer shrunk itself sometime overnight. I have a HP Laptop someone gave me, no instruction manual with it. When I shut down last night before bed, everything was just fine. This morning, I booted it up and EVERYTHING on it is tiny. Pictures, icons, windows, typing… everything is about half it’s normal size. I can barely see to type this. I did NOTHING to it to cause this, just shut it down as normal. I looked for something that said settings and didn’t find anything. I am computer challenged. I feel like I’m losing my mind because I can’t really SEE where the extra space went, even, it’s just… smaller. Even my desktop picture went from filling the screen to a small image in the middle. If I had someone else in the house I would think someone was playing a joke on me, but since I live alone… well, I have no idea what happened. Help, please, before I go blind trying to read this tiny crap!! ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-ive-shrunk-the-computer/534901/2 "2010-04-04T13:40:38Z")
Right click on the main screen and a tab with “properties” will come up. Go into that an choose the “settings” tab. Try various resolutions. Did you run any email attachments your friends sent you on April fools day? ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-ive-shrunk-the-computer/534901/3 "2010-04-04T13:50:56Z")
OK… when I did that, I got an option to make font bigger, so I did. It’s a LITTLE better (there were no choices as to HOW big or small) but everything else is still tiny. Nope, no e mail attachments on April Fool’s Day, but that’s what this FEELS like, a bad joke. ---
**Author:** ![Ionizer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5daacb/32.png) [@Ionizer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ionizer)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-ive-shrunk-the-computer/534901/4 "2010-04-04T13:56:42Z")
See if you can change resolution to 640x480 or 1024xwhatever (play around, per se). It might be a resolution thing, not _font size_ (strictly speaking). As Astro said… And also make sure that the monitor is still listed as the correct one (often found in same area as described above) or look through System/Devices through the Control Panel (assuming Windows based OS) ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-ive-shrunk-the-computer/534901/5 "2010-04-04T13:57:58Z")
> [@PapSett](#): > > OK… when I did that, I got an option to make font bigger, so I did. It’s a LITTLE better (there were no choices as to HOW big or small) but everything else is still tiny. > > Nope, no e mail attachments on April Fool’s Day, but that’s what this FEELS like, a bad joke. Did you find a ‘resolution’ slider bar in the display settings? ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-ive-shrunk-the-computer/534901/6 "2010-04-04T14:07:24Z")
There were no actual choices in display, no slider bar. There were 2 boxes, one with ‘normal’ font size, the other larger for ‘ease of reading’. That’s if. I can’t find any other adjustments on it, anywhere. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-ive-shrunk-the-computer/534901/7 "2010-04-04T14:13:33Z")
It doesn’t sound like you’re in the normal display control panel. What operating system are you running Windows XP, ME, 98, Vista or Windows 7? ---
**Author:** ![LIONsob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/76d3ee/32.png) [@LIONsob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LIONsob)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-ive-shrunk-the-computer/534901/8 "2010-04-04T14:15:26Z")
Sounds like safe mode in Windows, try reboting the computer. ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-ive-shrunk-the-computer/534901/9 "2010-04-04T14:22:01Z")
I am running Vista. And I have rebooted a dozen times already this morning. I did find the sliding bar for resolution finally and slid it all the way over to the left, hit apply. Everything is bigger now, thank God, but the verbage looks sloppy. It’s better than tiny, anyway. Jesus, there are days when I _hate_ computers. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-ive-shrunk-the-computer/534901/10 "2010-04-04T14:55:12Z")
Rather than setting the resolution lower, which just makes everything look blocky, set it back to the native resolution for the display, and set the text size (DPI Scaling) bigger: Control Panel -\> Appearance and Personalization -\> Ease of Access Center -\> Make The Computer Easier to See (link mid page, not the title) -\> Change the Size of Text and Icons Change from the default 96 DPI to 120. That way you have bigger text, but are still using the resolution the display is capable of. ---
**Author:** ![janeslogin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@janeslogin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janeslogin)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2010, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-ive-shrunk-the-computer/534901/11 "2010-04-04T17:12:16Z")
My computers have all had some adjustments on the display itself. My current one has three buttons on the lower right. The previous one had three rotational dials under the screen. I don’t know any more about them because I haven’t used them in ten years. ---
**Author:** ![Autolycus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/22d042/32.png) [@Autolycus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autolycus)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 10:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-ive-shrunk-the-computer/534901/12 "2010-04-05T10:09:41Z")
Clearly you crossed the streams somehow. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-ive-shrunk-the-computer/534901/13 "2010-04-05T10:12:56Z")
Maybe a system restore to a few days ago? (Programs/ accessories/ system restore). ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-ive-shrunk-the-computer/534901/14 "2010-04-05T10:23:47Z")
I had to change the resolution on someone’s computer to view a web site, and I forgot to change it back. It freaked her out so much I was never allowed to touch her computer again. As for you, put the fonts back the way they were, and try the different stops on the slider until you find the one that matches the way you had it before. Then remember that resolution so you can put it back. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_E.Bird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c67d28/32.png) [@Earl\_E.Bird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_E.Bird)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-ive-shrunk-the-computer/534901/15 "2010-04-05T12:01:08Z")
“System Restore” Just restore the computer to a time when everything was OK, like a few days back. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-ive-shrunk-the-computer/534901/16 "2010-04-05T12:28:03Z")
> [@Earl\_E.Bird](#): > > “System Restore” > > Just restore the computer to a time when everything was OK, like a few days back. Maybe a late bird. Check 2 posts back. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_E.Bird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c67d28/32.png) [@Earl\_E.Bird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_E.Bird)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/honey-ive-shrunk-the-computer/534901/17 "2010-04-05T19:38:33Z")
> [@Cicero](#): > > Maybe a late bird. Check 2 posts back. Way too early for me, apparently 😃