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Vertically Stretched Icons

Started by benryves Apr 2, 2007 at 6:35 AM 5 replies 1.2k views

Original Post

Apr 2, 2007 at 6:35 AM

I recently updated my display drivers, and several icons are now stretched vertically (and badly), like this:

Places where icons are stretched include the dialog box that pops up if you try and access a disk drive with media removed, icons on certain property sheets, and the buttons on the "Log Off/Switch User" and "Standby/Shut Down/Restart" dialogs. I changed the DPI settings to 120dpi then back down again to 96dpi (then rebooted) - this fixed the buttons on the log off and shut down dialogs, but they're still distorted in other places. Installing new video drivers has done this to me before, but I cannot for the life of me remember how I resolved the issue. Anyone got any ideas?

lethalhamster

Apr 2, 2007 at 9:01 AM

Are you sure your resolution is set to your LCD's native resolution? That is assuming you have an LCD.

superpig

Apr 2, 2007 at 9:12 AM

It definitely does sound like your resolution has changed such that it's now either wider or shorter than it used to be.

liquidAir

Apr 2, 2007 at 10:08 AM

I'll go with screen resolution. Try changing your screen resolution and see if that fixes the problem. That's likely the cause.

mutex

Apr 3, 2007 at 12:37 AM

It might be color scheme weirdness as well; if that image is an actual screenshot then it's unlikely to be a resolution issue.

Try reapplying the current color scheme:
1) Start, Control Panel.
2) In the "Appearance and Personalization" section click "Customize colors".
3) If the "Window Color and Appearance" window shows up, click "Open classic appearance properties".
4) By now a "Appearance Settings" dialog should appear. Reapply your current color scheme.

Update: Oops, those are Vista instructions. If you're on XP, right-click on desktop, Properties, Appearance tab, then reapply a color scheme.

[Edited by - mutex on April 3, 2007 2:37:27 AM]

Ravuya

Apr 3, 2007 at 12:59 AM

Yeah, but if he changed the resolution, that wouldn't change the screenshot that he would take.

If you set a 640x480 display to 480x480, the frame-buffer that the screenshot function reads from would appear correct even though the image would look stretched on the monitor. It's a software bug of some kind.

Seems to me like some sort of stuck setting; are you using a custom uxtheme.dll or some sort of custom Active Desktop widget? Does the issue persist in safe mode?

I suppose changing the resolution might force the machine to recalculate its aspect ratio and then potentially clear up whatever bit of the GUI state is "stuck," but I doubt it.

benryves

Apr 3, 2007 at 4:52 AM

Sorry, I should have mentioned; that's a 1:1 screenshot, so that ugly nearest-neighbour scaling is being done by Windows. I use a CRT, so it's not a native resolution issue; most icons render perfectly happily too.

I've tried fiddling with the resolution and reapplying themes; it hasn't helped. I am using a patched uxtheme.dll, though. I have yet to check safe mode, but that's a good idea. [smile]

The only thing that might be an issue is I'm using a 5:4 resolution (1280×1024) on a 4:3 monitor; though I don't know if the driver would decide to compensate by stretching a few of the system icons for me. The icons are, however, stretched in every resolution.

Thanks for your suggestions!

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