Home Office: Tips for Better Monitors and Graphics

"The column's doing good, Bass." It was my editor, struggling with grammar, and wanting something. "Have you considered doing a column on fiddling with monitors or making the screen look better?" Translating is an art, folks, so here goes: His wife, or maybe a relative, is having trouble with their hand-me-down 14-inch monochrome monitor; he's stuck providing tech support and wants me to do the research.

"Sure," I replied, wondering if he's ever even visited PCWorld.com. "I'll dig out some of those great Step-By-Steps we have on the site," I said, knowing I'd turn it into a column later. (What, you think I'm dumb?)

It turns out a bunch of editors have cranked out some terrific how-to guides. This week I present a few that can improve your home-office equipment and make your day a little easier.

Step This Way, Please

My editor's monitor and graphic card woes are not uncommon. My guess is lots of you can improve your monitor's output. And don't get smart--I'm not talking about getting a cool screen saver.

Your first stop ought to be "Hardware Tips: My Friend Flicker," a great how-to with a witty title. This gem explains how to get screen flicker under control and how to set the refresh rate.

Not everyone's willing to fiddle with graphic cards; I think that's because it sounds tough to do. It really doesn't have to be; reading Stan Miastkowski's guide, "Step-By-Step: Upgrade Your PC's Graphics Performance" will help to demystify the process.

Dig this: Have you seen the latest ad from Microsoft? Oh yeah, I'm sure it's real--I found it on the Internet.

Monitor Extras

Some of you may not admit it, but you probably have an old monitor tucked in a closet or in the garage. (Come on, I know you do. I save things, too--like old monitors, because you never know when having one will come in handy.) Well, now's a good time to dig it out. Contributing editor and hardware fanatic Stan Miastkowski has written a Step-By-Step that tells you how to use that extra monitor for, say, watching a big download (or maybe a movie) while word processing on the other monitor. The article is "Step-By-Step: Double Your Screen Space."

If you're in the market for a new monitor (and everyone is as soon as a bigger, better model becomes available), I have two spots on the site you ought to visit. The first is our September "Top 10 LCD Monitors" chart. The next is Denny Arar's "Larger Screens, Smaller Investments." In her review, Denny examines four hot new LCDs and explains why she likes the ViewSonic best.

Oddly enough, most of us (me included) take the technology behind LCD monitors for granted. If you want a straightforward article that explains how it works, head for "How It Works: LCD Monitors." Granted, it's old--but the explanation hasn't changed.

And talking about monitors, one gizmo you might be interested in can transform your PC's monitor into a TV set. Yep, it works; we tried it. Read about it in "NextVision Turns PC Monitors Into TVs."

Dig this: Wanna spank the monkey? Let's see how you do. The only prize you get is a special song when you reach speeds of over 200 miles per hour. My high score is 209--and it took lots of quality deadline procrastination time to achieve that. Thanks to Bruce K. who explains that the trick is fast, deliberate screen-wrist action.

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