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Honored Contributor
Posts: 24,104
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Everything suddenly got Huge on my computer, need help


@doglover3 wrote:

@gardenman wrote:

I found a fix. The problem seems to be with the video driver dated 7/25/2017. I went to Device Manager, then clicked on the "dsiplay adapters" and then right clicked on the ATI Radeon 3000 Graphics. Then I clicked on the "Driver" tab, Then "Update Driver."  Then "Browse my computer for driver software." Then  "Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer." It found four versions of the driver, two dated 7/25/2017 and one dated earlier along with the generic one. I clicked on the earlier one and installed it and I'm back to normal. The screen went black for a few seconds, but when it came back I was back at my old resolution.


 

clicked on display adapters but the only thing there is ATI Radeon HD 4200


Not a problem. Just follow the rest of the steps and you'll be fine. You just have a different video card, but it's still an ATI Radeon one and that's the driver that's messed everything up. Microsoft apparently created a new ATI driver on 7/25/2017 and either didn't install it until yesterday, or installed it earlier and it laid dormant and causing no trouble until the new update came along and created chaos. Replacing the updated driver with an old one, either by rolling back the newer driver using the roll back option (grayed out on my computer) or finding the older one on the computer and manually installing it solves the problem.

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,802
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Everything suddenly got Huge on my computer, need help


@gardenman wrote:

@doglover3 wrote:

@gardenman wrote:

I found a fix. The problem seems to be with the video driver dated 7/25/2017. I went to Device Manager, then clicked on the "dsiplay adapters" and then right clicked on the ATI Radeon 3000 Graphics. Then I clicked on the "Driver" tab, Then "Update Driver."  Then "Browse my computer for driver software." Then  "Let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer." It found four versions of the driver, two dated 7/25/2017 and one dated earlier along with the generic one. I clicked on the earlier one and installed it and I'm back to normal. The screen went black for a few seconds, but when it came back I was back at my old resolution.


 

clicked on display adapters but the only thing there is ATI Radeon HD 4200


Not a problem. Just follow the rest of the steps and you'll be fine. You just have a different video card, but it's still an ATI Radeon one and that's the driver that's messed everything up. Microsoft apparently created a new ATI driver on 7/25/2017 and either didn't install it until yesterday, or installed it earlier and it laid dormant and causing no trouble until the new update came along and created chaos. Replacing the updated driver with an old one, either by rolling back the newer driver using the roll back option (grayed out on my computer) or finding the older one on the computer and manually installing it solves the problem.


thanks, will try that

Honored Contributor
Posts: 24,104
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Everything suddenly got Huge on my computer, need help

It should work for you. I posted that solution on the Microsoft support forums and a couple of people have said it worked for them. If you can't roll back to the older version using the roll back option, then searching your computer for the drivers should find the old one and let you install it again.

 

Microsoft will likely issue a fix soon anyway as this is a pretty widespread issue, but with the holiday it could take a while. Just rolling back the update sadly didn't fix the issue and the computer just tries to reinstall the update anyway. This way you can keep the update and simply roll back the driver to the older one that works. It may take a few days to a week for Microsoft to craft a fix. (They have to identify what exactly is the problem and then find a fix, test it, and launch it. That can take a while.) In the meantime, this is a good workaround that gets everything back to how it should be.

 

The good news is the old drivers hang around on your hard drive and Windows knows where to find them. All you have to do is sort out which one to use and tell Windows to plug it in and you're good to go. One of the good things with Windows is they give you multiple options to fix issues that pop up. The roll back option should work, but didn't in my case, but they still give me another option to find and install the right driver.

 

 

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,802
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Everything suddenly got Huge on my computer, need help

[ Edited ]

will try this when my neighbor comes over since I am not very computer smart and don't want to louse anything up but this sounds good to me, thanks a lot

 

I forgot to say, I did try other things and did get the icons on my desktop back to normal size but still e mail and all other sites are huge, don't fit on the computer screen which is 22 inches.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 24,104
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Everything suddenly got Huge on my computer, need help

So far, no one who's tried this fix has had it fail, so there's that. It seems like the right solution. If the roll back option isn't there for you on the driver tab, then letting Windows find the old driver on your computer and reinstall it seems to work perfectly.

 

It was about this time yesterday morning when Microsoft made the switch. I was computing away before going out to cook when I got the pop-up advising me that Windows would soon be installing new updates, but just as that pop-up came up, the resolution changed. I thought that was odd. I went ahead and let the computer shut down and install the updates, assuming that would fix the issue, but no. I didn't have a lot of free time to play around with it as I had to get my dinner started then had three football games to watch.

 

I popped in from time to time (halftime in the games) to try different approaches and monitored the Microsoft support forums. The roll back option worked for a lot of people, but I wasn't given that option. Knowing that the old driver would fix the problem though had me searching online at my motherboard's site for that old driver only to come up empty. Then I decided to see if the old driver still existed on the computer and sure enough, it did. A point here, a click there, a few nervous seconds while the screen went black, and then everything was back to normal.

 

It should work for you also. It's a pretty easy fix once you know what it is and how to do it. Don't freak out when the creen goes black for a bit (there may be some beeping noises also,) it should come back up and all will be good.

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
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Posts: 4,042
Registered: ‎04-30-2012

Re: Everything suddenly got Huge on my computer, need help

right click the desktop then display settings. You may have to adjust resolution. 

Honored Contributor
Posts: 24,104
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Everything suddenly got Huge on my computer, need help


@kcladyz wrote:

right click the desktop then display settings. You may have to adjust resolution. 


Sad to say it's not that easy this time around. The Thanksgiving update for Windows 10 killed the video drivers for the ATI 3000 and 4000 series video cards. Microsoft then replaced the drivers with new ones that changed the resolution settings and wouldn't let you change back to your old settings. Fortunately, Windows computers keep the old drivers laying around, so you can just reload the older drivers and you're back in business. It's a pretty easy fix once you know how to do it.

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
Respected Contributor
Posts: 2,802
Registered: ‎03-10-2010

Re: Everything suddenly got Huge on my computer, need help

[ Edited ]

@gardenman wrote:

So far, no one who's tried this fix has had it fail, so there's that. It seems like the right solution. If the roll back option isn't there for you on the driver tab, then letting Windows find the old driver on your computer and reinstall it seems to work perfectly.

 

It was about this time yesterday morning when Microsoft made the switch. I was computing away before going out to cook when I got the pop-up advising me that Windows would soon be installing new updates, but just as that pop-up came up, the resolution changed. I thought that was odd. I went ahead and let the computer shut down and install the updates, assuming that would fix the issue, but no. I didn't have a lot of free time to play around with it as I had to get my dinner started then had three football games to watch.

 

I popped in from time to time (halftime in the games) to try different approaches and monitored the Microsoft support forums. The roll back option worked for a lot of people, but I wasn't given that option. Knowing that the old driver would fix the problem though had me searching online at my motherboard's site for that old driver only to come up empty. Then I decided to see if the old driver still existed on the computer and sure enough, it did. A point here, a click there, a few nervous seconds while the screen went black, and then everything was back to normal.

 

It should work for you also. It's a pretty easy fix once you know what it is and how to do it. Don't freak out when the  screen goes black for a bit (there may be some beeping noises also,) it should come back up and all will be good.


my neighbor came over this evening.  We did exactly what you said, worked perfect (did get that black screen  and got scared but went away and things were great, back to normal) until that huge download went in. I didn't get it Thanksgiving but got it tonight, Sunday and after that finished 3 1/2  hours later my computer is back to where it was, everything huge again?

 

I am editing to add, I just changed the resolution just now and things are a lot better, not like they were but a whole lot better so going to let it go now, thanks, your suggestion was spot on

Honored Contributor
Posts: 24,104
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: Everything suddenly got Huge on my computer, need help

I'm happy to report mine has stayed the same. That repair option works for most people. (My e-mail inbox has over 50 replies from the posts on the Microsoft Support forum thanking me for that solution.) I'm a little surprised Microsoft didn't roll out a solution themselves.

 

When the problem cropped up on Thanksgiving morning I just assumed they'd fix it pretty quickly, but no. Maybe all of their engineers were off for the holiday weekend. Anyway, it's a nice, fixable problem, that's easy to resolve (so far anyway) on our own with little to no help from Microsoft.

Fly!!! Eagles!!! Fly!!!
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Posts: 6,980
Registered: ‎03-05-2011

Re: Everything suddenly got Huge on my computer, need help


@gardenman wrote:

@kcladyz wrote:

right click the desktop then display settings. You may have to adjust resolution. 


Sad to say it's not that easy this time around. The Thanksgiving update for Windows 10 killed the video drivers for the ATI 3000 and 4000 series video cards. Microsoft then replaced the drivers with new ones that changed the resolution settings and wouldn't let you change back to your old settings. Fortunately, Windows computers keep the old drivers laying around, so you can just reload the older drivers and you're back in business. It's a pretty easy fix once you know how to do it.


Did you try holding down the alt key and at the same time hitting the minus sign beside the O.   Minus shrinks it and the key beside it will make it bigger with the plus and the = sign.   I am getting so sick of microsoft.  I am ready for apple.