[emmauk]

basically... i had a bad virus that literally waiped out my whole pc (i clicked on something i really shouldn't have lol). i had to reformat the pc and since then the picture on my monitor is really big... so big that i cant fit a full page on there and it usualy has to chop off some of the page.
at first i tried fixing it through control panel and display but it wont let me change the screen resolution at all (i cant move the little arrow that changes it) and if i click on monitor , it wont let me click the properties button.
i thought it may be a problem with the driver so i downloaded the driver form the Dell website but havent had luck with that either as i stil lcannot click on properties in the monitor section and i need to.
what has happend here?? it's driving me up the wall.. as well as everything on my screen being way to big.. i have also just splashed out on a new webcam but i can't even use it becuase when i click on the icon it sais..
'the program will not start unless the screen resolution and quality meet the minimum requirements. right click in the desktop , click properties and then click the settings tab. change the screen resolution to at least 800 by 600 pixels and the colour quality to at least 16 bit'
thing is .. i can't change the damn screen resolution as it wont let me.

i would be extremly grateful if someone can figure out what has happend and why i am not able to click the buttons i need to.

if it's any help.. my pc is a del dimension 1100 and the monitor is a dell e176fp.

thanks alot... i have my fingers x'd

)

Hello Emma

Welcome to Free PC Help

You need to reinstall the graphics driver for your machine.

Go here.

Dell Support Home Page

[emmauk]

thanks alot... i am going to try that right now. woohoo

[emmauk]

lol i must be missing something coz i really can't find anything saying graphics drivers on the dell site for my particular pc. only thing i have found is display drivers but they have no downloads for that at present anyway.

[Tootech]

http://support.euro.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/downloads/en/downloads_splash?c=uk&l=en&s=gen&~mode=popup&file= 134913

The above link is an immediate executable file download Emma so don't be alarmed when a box pops up, just accept it.

[emmauk]

WOOO HOOOOO it's all sorted now. thanks alot

it looks well weird now... everything looks so tiny coz i have been using it with everything huge for a couple of weeks.

thank you, thank you, thank you

Good to see you are back to normal Emma.

[emmauk]

i actually have 1 more question though ... after this is sorted, i really will be back to normal. i have 2 folders in pictures which i made private... since reformatting,i can't open them. any suggestions???

That's a bit confusing Emma because once you formatted all your stuff should be gone.

Did you back the pics up to a disk or something?

[emmauk]

well it did all go... BUT...then while fiddling around in C drive i stumbled across pictures and music i thought i had lost ... so moved them all back to my pictures/music. so i am quite happy about that as i was so upset thinkign i had lost so many pictures.
only prob is the 2 folders that i can't open... i kinda need to open one of them desperatly

Emma

What you write does not make sense, when you format everything goes and once you reinstall windows all you have is the bare boned operating system.

There will nothing left of any of your files on the C: drive.

Please tell us exactly what you did and do you just have the one physical hard drive.

[emmauk]

right....

had a bad virus and i literally could not use anything .. i stuck in the windows cd and reformatted the whole thing. everything had gone and it was like having a fresh computer and i spent all night upset at losing my pictures.
then i re-downloaded a picture editing program that i had before and it some how made me able to find them in C drive... i went into 'my computer' then 'C drive' then i found a folder called 'doccuments and settings' which i didn't know was there so clicked on that and then there was a folder titled "emmas doccuments' then 'emmas pictures' and all the lost pictures were in there.
so transfered them into my pictures

[emmauk]

if it's possible the picture editing program remembered them... i still don't have a clue how my music cropped up again at the same time

[BeeCeeBee]

Please tell us exactly what you did and do you just have the one physical hard drive.

The only thing that makes sense is that you did not actually format the hard drive at all and are perhaps not using the term correctly. I would suggest you reply to Wolfeys query exactly.

[emmauk]

i don't know though.. i can't explain any further then i have. i dont know alot about pc's.
i stuck the disk in the pc... i had the option to repair which didnt work ... so i pressed the other option which was reformat.
when i first went back on the screen..... everything was gone (i didnt realise that reformatting gets rid of all your documents aswell so i was in shock that i didn't know and didnt save them first) ... then after downloading that pic editing program... i found them again.

i dont know if i have another hard drive... lol i sound like a right twit don't i ha ha ha

[BeeCeeBee]

if it's possible the picture editing program remembered them... i still don't have a clue how my music cropped up again at the same time

Is it possible that the "picture editing program" provided on line storage for sharing wth friends and family etc? What program is it?

As far as the disc that you used was it a Dell disc or a specific Windows XP? Does it say only for use on a Dell computer etc.?

[emmauk]

the photo program is irfran view.. though i wasn't aware of it having online pic storing. though maybe it had now you mention it.

the disk is a windows xp disk and i just checkd and it doesn't say on it that i should only use with a dell pc.

[BeeCeeBee]

I am going to leave the issue of formatting to someone else more capbable although I tend to believe that you may simply have reinstalled windows.

The fact that you said you labeled some pics as private and apparently did not do the same for your music leads me to suspect that you have somehow retreived them from Irfan or a related program. As far as I know XP home does not offer that kind of encryption.

You may have to log on somewhere and change the settings on the program itself. It may be a password issue.

Again that is just a suspicion but may account for how you can find files that should be gone. Have you been able to retrieve any old documents from your "My Documents folder?"

[Tootech]

It is possible that a reinstall has backed up your doc's.

Iqon PC's do it, some HP's do, although I've not yet seen a Dell do it.

Doesn't mean it can't

Going back to the original install - did your account have a password? Did you set your account to keep your files and folders private?