# Sideways display **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 15, 2018, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-display/808857 "2018-02-15T03:33:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-display/808857/1 "2018-02-15T03:33:31Z")
Ok, the cat just walked across my keyboard and now my monitor is turned ninety degrees to the left. HELP! How do I fix this? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-display/808857/2 "2018-02-15T03:38:28Z")
Assuming you’re running some form of Windows, here’s [How to Fix a Sideways Screen.](https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/fix-sideways-screen-computer) Seems like the simplest way would be to hit CTRL + ALT + Up Arrow. Then figure out how the cat held down three keys simultaneously. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-display/808857/3 "2018-02-15T03:46:02Z")
Sheesh. Just turn it 90 degrees to the _right_ and it will be facing you again. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-display/808857/4 "2018-02-15T13:02:42Z")
Thank you, **Colibri**. I wasn’t sure what keys he walked on and it was rather annoying. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-display/808857/5 "2018-02-15T13:32:40Z")
> [@](#): > > Then figure out how the cat held down three keys simultaneously. He doesn’t need to figure that part out; the cat’s already got it down. ---
**Author:** ![dolphinboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dolphinboy/32/330_2.png) [@dolphinboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dolphinboy)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-display/808857/6 "2018-02-15T14:09:14Z")
That’s why cats shouldn’t be allowed to walk on keyboards in general, and pianos in particular. You have to draw the line somewhere. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-display/808857/7 "2018-02-15T19:49:56Z")
> [@dolphinboy](#): > > That’s why cats shouldn’t be allowed to walk on keyboards in general, and pianos in particular. You have to draw the line somewhere. Many years ago I bought a fridge for cheap. Apparently the previous owner had come home with a 12-pack of beer and put it on top of the stove. He was watching TV in the other room, when the cat walked across the counter and stove and to get past the case of beer must have managed to turn the (electric) stove element on “high”. The guy suddenly realized that his house was filling with smoke and bottles were exploding in the kitchen. Once the firemen made sure everything was turned off and safe, his insurance paid for repairs and cleanup. The fridge had scorch marks on it from being adjacent to the stove, so he just had to get rid of it. It was perfectly fine. The cat too was perfectly fine. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-display/808857/8 "2018-02-15T19:58:47Z")
It would be easier to just keep him out of the office, but that’s impossible. No door, for one. I try to lure him over to one of the window sill perches, but he prefers to lay on the desk between me and the keyboard so he can monitor my internet use. Yesterday he stood up and there I was facing a sideways screen with no idea what he did. Luckily, the Dope came through within 5 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-display/808857/9 "2018-02-15T20:33:55Z")
I once had a cat highlight a folder containing thousands of photos, choose to delete it without sending it to the recycle bin, then confirm the deletion. I had to try 3 undelete utilities before I managed to restore it. There was also the time that one renamed a folder “nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn]rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrv kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkppppp” You might want to try [this](http://www.bitboost.com/pawsense/). ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [February 15, 2018, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-display/808857/10 "2018-02-15T23:33:22Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Then figure out how the cat held down three keys simultaneously. No problem – he’s got 4 paws, after all. > [@silenus](#): > > It would be easier to just keep him out of the office, but that’s impossible. No door, for one. I try to lure him over to one of the window sill perches, but he prefers to lay on the desk between me and the keyboard so he can monitor my internet use. Install one of the short cat towers or a perch behind your monitor, so he can lay on that and look over the monitor to monitor you. Or put a cat bed underneath the monitor, just above the keyboard. Then he can lay there, and swat at your fingers as you use the keyboard. Or he’ll find another way to interrupt you. I used to get annoyed at feline interruptions, until my doctor told me to look at it as an ergonomic alarm timer – I’m supposed to get up and move around every so often, and the cat interruptions serve as a good reminder that it’s time to do that. ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-display/808857/11 "2018-02-16T05:21:59Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I once had a cat highlight a folder containing thousands of photos, choose to delete it without sending it to the recycle bin, then confirm the deletion. I had to try 3 undelete utilities before I managed to restore it. There was also the time that one renamed a folder “nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn]rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrv kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkppppp” Heh… for my lectures (I’m a math teacher), I type up the examples I’m going to do ahead of time, and project them via the overhead, then work the problems out on the whiteboard for the students. One of my cats likes to help as I’m putting my lectures together. A couple of months ago, I brought up an example to solve a system of equations, and one of them was something like 4444111111111111111111x + 3y = 5. My students got all bug-eyed… between that and realizing how it happened, I started laughing. But then I had to ask myself… how the hell did I not notice that when it happened? ---
**Author:** ![Egnu\_Cledge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/34f0e0/32.png) [@Egnu\_Cledge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Egnu_Cledge)\ **Post date:** [February 16, 2018, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-display/808857/12 "2018-02-16T06:13:01Z")
One of our cats managed to program our stereo to turn on and start playing cds at a certain time each night, just by walking over its remote control. It took us a week to figure out how to stop it. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2018, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-display/808857/13 "2018-02-17T00:22:52Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Sheesh. Just turn it 90 degrees to the _right_ and it will be facing you again. > > 😃 Cats don’t like when you turn them 90 degrees, in any direction. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2018, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sideways-display/808857/14 "2018-02-17T00:24:42Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Then figure out how the cat held down three keys simultaneously. With one paw behind his back, natch. > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > I once had a cat … renamed a folder “nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn]rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrv kkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkppppp” We at SDMB are quite liberal, but some things cross the line. Reported.