I have a x223w monitor that if you try to set higher than1280 x 768 it stretches eveything horizontally

Try adjusting the screen resolution to 1024 x 768 or higher.

Thank you for the feedback and the result.

Just right click in your desktop area and select properties. Go to Settings and select a higher resolution. 1024x768 is usually good.

Good Luck,

NOLA Tech

There are adjustments in the size of the items on a screen under the screen properties, settings. If you right click on the desktop screen and then properties you can get there. There is at least one size which causes a distortion of images being displayed. This may be your problem.

Change the screen resolution properties.

I would check for new drivers for the video card. They usually have higher resolution abilities for these fancy wide screen monitors.

It depends on your monitor. Some monitors don't support higher frequencies at higher resolutions. I wouldn't try to force it very much, as your monitor has built-in protection designed to stop it from operating at a higher frequency than it's capable. If you did find a way to work around that, you're likely to blow the monitor.

Monitors have Max resolution. What you call VGA is not really VGA, the standard for VGA is 640X480, SVGA is 800X600 and XGA is 1024X768. VGA and DVI are capable of different "GAs". Consequently you are not able to go beyond the capabilities of your monitor. Right-Click on a blank area of your Desktop and click on Properties. Then click on the Settings tab. Move the slide all the way to the right and that will be the maximum resolution for your monitor.

If your computer does not have a video card that supports the correct resolutions for the widescreen monitors, then your picture may get stretched. Much like watching normal tv programs on a an hd set. It will eitther strech or cut off the picture.
Try different settings in you computer display settings.
Fran

The issue here is that you have a low resolution picture and a high resolution display. Windows is "stretching" the smaller, low resolution picture so that it will fit across the larger area, thus distorting it. Right click on the desktop and select properties. Go to the Desktop tab. There should be an item there for position. Is it set to Stretch? If it is, then this is causing the problem. Set it to center, and it should appear fine. If you want to keep this from happening: 1) User higher resolution pictures. 2) Turn down the resolution on your screen (this can be done from the Settings tab of display properties).