Win98 profiles and distorted display

[Ruana]

At my place of work, we run Windows 98 Compaqs on a LAN. For a while I've been grappling with a strange problem; from time to time, for no apparent reason, one of my users will log in and find that their desktop is horribly distorted. It will end halfway down the screen but stretch off to the right, and will be displayed in mono. The same will happen if they use a different PC. Our PCs use the same display settings regardless of who is logged in, but any other user is fine. I have found that I can fix it by cancelling the login and, as the default user, setting the display to 16 colours and 640x480, then rebooting, logging in as the user (at which point the display will be all right) logging out again and returning the settings to normal. It has been known to recur at the user's next logon but then stays fixed. It's not affecting anyone seriously, but I'd appreciate having an explanation for my users when it does happen!

[Ghost_Hacker]

Are you using roaming profiles? If so I would recreate this user's profile, but first delete the current one.

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Comment heard from a Klingon programmer.

"Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!"

[Ruana]

Thanks, Ghost, but as I say I have a fix. Rereading my post I think I gave a misleading impression - it's happened to several different people, not just one. I'm more interested in cause and prevention than cure.

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I don't want to be killed by a typo. It would be embarrassing.

[This message has been edited by Ruana (edited 09-07-2001).]

[Ghost_Hacker]

I would check that all computers are using the same Video driver version Some drivers have problems switching resolutions between programs or profiles. I had a simlar problem with Dells and an old Dos DBF database program.


Hope this helps http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

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Comment heard from a Klingon programmer.

"Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!"

[Ruana]

Thanks GH. I'll check up on that.

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I don't want to be killed by a typo. It would be embarrassing.