Things are getting worse. Now, every time I open my computer, the desktop is too far from thr left. This leaves me with a screen that has a black lef thand margin and I am loosing the close box. Once I go on the internet, the only wat to close the screen is to manually shut down my computer. We had a power outage two nights ago and I have had this problem ever since. Can anyone help me?
Sometimes weird stuff like this can happen when the computer's power supply is failing. (this is not a horribly expensive repair). I've had this happen twice to computers.
If there was a power surge when the power went out, and the computer was not on a really good surge protector, it can do weird stuff to the power supply or the motherboard.
Is the computer in warranty? If it is, call tech. support, and they will talk you through a solution. If they can't fix it over the phone, they go to Plan B, which is whatever your warranty calls for. In home service or send you another hard drive.
If not in warranty, do you have a regular computer repair place to which you bring it when there is a big problem? My place lets me call and ask about the problem. Sometimes it is something they can walk me through over the phone. If not, it requires a trip to them for in-house service. Or if I'm desperate and can't wait, I call in my own computer guy, who comes to the house for $50/hr. He's cheaper than the Geek Squad - you can also call them.
You might also just ask the question in your search bar (if you can see it) - and you may get some good answers. I've done this many time and usually someone will answer who has been through it.
Kathryn0907, if it's a CRT monitor, there are probably controls on the lower front of the monitor itself for adjusting the display's size, position, brightness, etc. If that's the case, you need to keep messing around until you find the option for vertical centeringand then move the image to the left. But if this happened rather suddenly, I'd agree that a power supply (in the monitor) may be going bad. Oh, and have you checked your instruction manuals --always a good idea as a last resort!
Instruction manuals - ha ha ha ha- that's a good one. My husband was in the electronics business for 40 years. He owned and managed electronic stores. He was the only person I ever knew who read and understood those manuals. It DROVE HIM NUTS when people would come storming into the store with a piece of equipment they had bought, slam it down on the counter, and say "This DOESN'T WORK!" And Sid's answer was always "Did you read the manual?" And the answer was always - "I want my money back. It doesn't WORK."
Sid has a saying, which he DID NOT REPEAT to the customers, but is still very fond of telling me - RTFM. Whenever I bring home a new gadget and play with it trying to get it to work, he says RTFM. Of course, now even he has trouble understanding the manuals.
In case anyone is wondering, RTFM means "Read the &*%#^* Manual. :) If they ever get someone to write them, so I can understand them, I'll read them.
I have a great big RTFM button on my bulletin board by the computer; it followed me home when I retired.
Guys, Kathryn says she's a novice. Whatcha wanna bet she has no idea what CRT means, no likelihood she could "swap monitors" Given that she early-on described that she had the problem when she "opened" her computer, I've been trying to confirm my hunch that it's a laptop.. so a lot of our suggestions won't work. If she doesn't have a neighborhood guru, she probably ought to go to the Staples store and have a guy there look at it. The ones around here are pretty good.
Well everyone, I should have stayed on long enough to read Gourdchippers answer. I asked my niece tonight when I was with her and she told me to look at the front of the monitor and find the controls...and so I did. Worked like a charm. I do know what a CRT is because when I last worked, that's what we used!! By the way, I have a desktop. I am now back to normal!! Yeah!! I feel like I'm back with the real world. Thanks for all your help.