Washed-out Screen in XP

I have two desktop computers and one laptop running
Windows XP. On all three of them Windows applications
look washed out. The problem particularly affects light
green and blue text. Shaded scroll bars become invisible.

The same TFT monitors did not exhibit this problem when
used in Windows 2000 or Vista.

Nor is there a problem when I view photographs.

I have adjusted gamma well down from the normal value and
it helps a bit.

Anyone any idea what the problem might be?

Davy

Davy wrote:
> I have two desktop computers and one laptop running
> Windows XP. On all three of them Windows applications
> look washed out. The problem particularly affects light
> green and blue text. Shaded scroll bars become invisible.
>
> The same TFT monitors did not exhibit this problem when
> used in Windows 2000 or Vista.
>
> Nor is there a problem when I view photographs.
>
> I have adjusted gamma well down from the normal value and
> it helps a bit.
>
> Anyone any idea what the problem might be?
>
> Davy
=====================================
Just guessing...but if you open 'Display Properties'
by right clicking your desktop and choose...Properties...
you may find settings you could change at the 'Theme'
or 'Appearance' tabs that would improve the issue.

--

John Inzer
Digital Media MVP

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

"John Inzer" <oobie@doobie.xyz> wrote in news:#gA
$sjerIHA.552@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl:

> Davy wrote:
>> I have two desktop computers and one laptop running
>> Windows XP. On all three of them Windows
applications
>> look washed out. The problem particularly affects
light
>> green and blue text. Shaded scroll bars become
invisible.
>>
>> The same TFT monitors did not exhibit this problem
when
>> used in Windows 2000 or Vista.
>>
>> Nor is there a problem when I view photographs.
>>
>> I have adjusted gamma well down from the normal value
and
>> it helps a bit.
>>
>> Anyone any idea what the problem might be?
>>
>> Davy
> =====================================
> Just guessing...but if you open 'Display Properties'
> by right clicking your desktop and
choose...Properties...
> you may find settings you could change at the 'Theme'
> or 'Appearance' tabs that would improve the issue.
>

Thanks John, unfortunately the only other theme
available is 'classic windows' which does not seem to
offer an improvement. The appearance tab offers the
chance to change the colour of scroll bars but
unfortunately the colour options are greyed-out.

Davy

Davy <me@removeallthistextchobham.org.uk> wrote in
news:Xns9A948D0BF611Fmeremoveallthistextc@
216.196.109.145:

> I have two desktop computers and one laptop running
> Windows XP. On all three of them Windows applications
> look washed out. The problem particularly affects
light
> green and blue text. Shaded scroll bars become
invisible.
>
> The same TFT monitors did not exhibit this problem
when
> used in Windows 2000 or Vista.
>
> Nor is there a problem when I view photographs.
>
> I have adjusted gamma well down from the normal value
and
> it helps a bit.
>
> Anyone any idea what the problem might be?
>
> Davy

Just to add a bit more background .......

Contrast set to max; brightness 50%.

I have switched off cleartype.

The problem is mostly when characters are only one pixel
wide. So a word such as 'film' might have a solid black
upright in the 'i' but a grey upright in the 'l'. So
words have varying contrast from character to character.
It is particularly noticeable in Internet Explorer.

Davy

Davy wrote:
> Davy <me@removeallthistextchobham.org.uk> wrote in
> news:Xns9A948D0BF611Fmeremoveallthistextc@
> 216.196.109.145:
>
>> I have two desktop computers and one laptop running
>> Windows XP. On all three of them Windows applications
>> look washed out. The problem particularly affects light
>> green and blue text. Shaded scroll bars become invisible.
>>
>> The same TFT monitors did not exhibit this problem when
>> used in Windows 2000 or Vista.
>>
>> Nor is there a problem when I view photographs.
>>
>> I have adjusted gamma well down from the normal value and
>> it helps a bit.
>>
>> Anyone any idea what the problem might be?
>>
>> Davy
>
> Just to add a bit more background .......
>
> Contrast set to max; brightness 50%.
>
> I have switched off cleartype.
>
> The problem is mostly when characters are only one pixel
> wide. So a word such as 'film' might have a solid black
> upright in the 'i' but a grey upright in the 'l'. So
> words have varying contrast from character to character.
> It is particularly noticeable in Internet Explorer.
>
> Davy
====================================
Maybe you have an issue with your video driver.

--

John Inzer
Digital Media MVP

Notice
This is not tech support
I am a volunteer

Solutions that work for
me may not work for you

Proceed at your own risk

Davy <me@removeallthistextchobham.org.uk> wrote in
news:Xns9A949BFEC699Dmeremoveallthistextc@216.196. 109.145:

> Just to add a bit more background .......
>
> Contrast set to max; brightness 50%.
>
> I have switched off cleartype.
>
> The problem is mostly when characters are only one pixel
> wide. So a word such as 'film' might have a solid black
> upright in the 'i' but a grey upright in the 'l'. So
> words have varying contrast from character to character.
> It is particularly noticeable in Internet Explorer.
>
> Davy
>

Just to help others who might have this problem, I appear
to have sorted it.

I ran TFT-setup.exe which displays a pattern of one pixel
wide vertical lines. The display was awful. I then
pressed the 'auto' button on my Samsung SyncMaster and it
automatically adjusted something and now all the vertical
lines and text are black.

Still have the problem of washed out midtone colours in
Windows XP - not photos though.

Davy