TechSlip.net

Staring at a monitor screen all day can give you headaches and put a lot of stress on your eyes. I have some helpful tips that may improve this. Try it out and be stress free!

Change your monitor’s refresh rate

A higher refresh rate can cause less stress on your eyes. The higher it is the less flickering you get, which means less work for your eyes. You can notice if you have a bad refresh rate by looking at your monitor from the corner of your eye if standing a few feet away. You will notice flickering.
Now to change this

1. Click “Start”
2. Click “Control Panel”
3. Click “Appearances and Themes”
4. Click “Change Resolution”
5. Click “Advanced”
6. Click the “Monitor” tab at the top
7. Change the refresh rate to at least 75hertz if it can handle it. I personally set mine at 85. If it is set at 60 this is too low and can cause stress. Different monitors can handle different refresh rates. Also make sure your video drivers are installed or you may not be able to change this.
8. Click Apply and Ok

Clear Type Enable

Clear type for Windows XP makes the text easier on the eyes. It is not on by default so it may look blurry at first when you turn it on but believe me it helps. So to enable it follow the steps,

1. Click “Start”
2. Click “Control Panel”
3. Click “Appearances and Themes”
4. Click “Change Resolution”
5. Click the “Appearance” tab at the top
6. Click “Effects”
7. Change the smooth edge option from Standard to “Clear Type”
8. Apply and Ok.

Now viewing the monitor should be a little easier on your eyes. Be sure to still take breaks in between uses on the computer.

Some people like to keep certain folders and files hidden so that when someone else uses their computer they cannot view these things. Hiding a folder will make it still accessable by typing in the directory in your address bar (Example C:Program FilesHiddenFolder). To hide a folder follow these steps.

1. Click My Computer
2. Click the drive your folder is located in, Example C:
3. Find the folder
4. Right click the folder
5. Choose properties
6. Check mark the hidden option at the bottom
7. Apply and there you go!

Now if you forget the name of your folder and it is hidden do not worry. Open My Computer, Click Tools at the top, Click Folder Options, Choose the View tab at the top, Check mark the “Show hidden files & folders” option, Apply. Now when you go to your hard drive it will show all of your hidden folders. They show up as a light colored folder.

If you use Internet Explorer quite often and never clean it out, it may be a good time to do it. Keeping lots of temporary files can slow down your computer and they are not needed. To clean up Internet Explorer follow these steps.

1. Go to the top menu bar and click “Tools”
2. Click “Internet Options”
3. Delete Files and check mark Delete all Offline files (this may take a few minutes)
4. Delete Cookies
5. To clear all previously visited websites, passwords saved, etc click “Clear History”
6. Restart your Internet Explorer and it should help it run smoother

Cleaning these files every few days helps keep your Explorer unclogged. I recommend using Mozilla FireFox instead of IE, which can be found under Free Utilities at the top of our site. Good luck!