Need help with desktop properties

[2stepntx]

I have a question about desktop properties
my mom purchased a computer from a local school it runs windows xp home ed. but there are some things missing #1 it has no Internet explorer and when I right click on the desktop and go to properties it pops up the properties window as normal but there are no tabs such as screensaver resoultion etc. and we are trying to change the desktop size so when a prompt box etc is open it fits totally on screen can this be done with command prompt? any help is apreciated she doesnt have the cash to go and buy a version of windows and do a full reinstall and no disk came with the computer I was going to post a pic of the window but found out that she has no mspaint either.

Thanks in advance

James

 

[sunsider]

internet explorer is included with every os microsoft makes. try clicking on start>run then type in iexplore. that should bring up internet explorer.
with those missing functions, it sounds more like some sort of limited account on xp. are you logged in as an admin? or under a guest account?
i can give you some registry keys to modify to reset the desktop resolution, see if you are able to gain access to regedit (start>run>regedit). if so i will post up those values for you.

 

[2stepntx]

Thank you for the quick response yes I am logged into an admin acct. and i can access regedit so if you could post what i need id apreciate it

James

 

[sunsider]

ok first thing you need to know is the type of video card in your machine. keep in mind these values apply only to vga and svga cards.

go to this key -

HKEY_CURRNET_CONFIG\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\"videocardname"

click on the folder with your video card name and on the right pane add the following values as new strings. the data in the quotes following the names is for your information only, you have to choose your settings.

DefaultSettings.BitsPerPixel - "this will be a number between 1(monochrome) and 32(true color)"

DefaultSettings.Xresolution - "this is the X plane(horizontal) varies from 640 to 1280"

DefaultSettings.Yresolution - "this is the Y plane (vertical) ranges from 480 to 1024"

DefaultSettings.Vrefresh - "this is you vertical refresh rate, set between 20 and 100, although you should have it at 70 for most monitors"

those are the settings you need, and when you set your X and Y properties, the following are the sizes that correspond to each other, note that other combinations will not work and will causde your monitor to go black.

640 by 480
720 by 480
720 by 576
800 by 600
848 by 480
1024 by 768
1088 by 612
1152 by 864
1280 by 720
1280 by 768
1280 by 960
1280 by 1024

good luck with that, make sure you back up your registry first by clicking on the file menu>export registry file. save it to your desktop or somewhere you can access it easily. good luck.

 

[GeckoEcho421]

They have that option in the registry on for little kids so that it disabled any properties from beings changed. They also have them in libraries and my school. Kinda sucks. I would tell you the key because key because I remember reading about it somewhere, but I don't

 

[waynejkruse10]

on computers from schools, they put heaps of restrictions on what you can and cannot do. I was given a old ex-school computer and in the end i had to format the computer and re-install windows, and clear the cmos because of a bios password.