Something Look Off on Your Monitor? Tweak These Windows Screen Settings

Your display in Windows 10 or 11 doesn’t look quite right. Maybe the text is too small or too large. The resolution may not be to your liking. Perhaps the color seems off. Don’t despair: You can customize your display in both versions of Windows by adjusting the brightness, changing the resolution, calibrating the color, and more.

In Windows 10 or 11, go to Settings > System > Display. As with all the screens in Settings, the look of the Display screen differs between Windows 10 and 11, but the commands and features are mostly the same.

Brightness and Color Settings

The top section on this screen is labeled Color in Windows 10 and Brightness and color in Windows 11. If you’re using a laptop, the first item in this section is for Brightness. Move the slider to the right to increase the overall brightness of the screen; move it to the left to decrease the brightness. The brighter the screen, the more the drain on the battery charge, so you’ll want to balance usability and comfort with battery life.

The next item here is Night light, which allows you to modify the color temperature of your monitor to reduce blue light, a factor that some studies have shown could affect the quality of your sleep. Turn on the switch for Night light to change the color temperature.

Next, you can modify the settings for Night light. In Windows 10, click the link for Night light settings. In Windows 11, click the entry for Night light.

At the next screen, click the button to turn Night light on or off. Move the slider to modify the color temperature. Moving the slider to the left makes the temperature warmer while moving it to the right makes the temperature cooler. Turn on the switch for Schedule Night light and you can set the times for it to go on and off, choosing either Sunset to Sunrise or specific hours. When done, click the left arrow to return to the previous screen.

Next up is Windows HD Color. This setting can deliver more vibrant colors for high-definition videos, games, and apps that support HDR (High Dynamic Range). In Windows 10, click the link for Windows HD Color settings. In Windows 11, click the entry for HDR.

At the next screen, make sure the display is set to your primary source if you have more than one. The Display capabilities section tells you which HDR capabilities are supported by your computer and monitor—Stream HDR video, Use HDR, and Use WCG apps. If all three are labeled as No or Not supported, then there’s nothing you can do at this screen. If Stream HDR video is labeled as Yes in Windows 10 or Play Streaming HDR video is labeled as Supported in Windows 11, then your display is capable of streaming HDR video. Turn on the switch below this for Stream HDR video or Play streaming HDR video.

You’ll then need to calibrate the display for HDR video. In Windows 10, click the link for Change calibration settings. In Windows 11, click the entry for Display calibration for HDR video.

Hover your mouse over the thumbnail video and click the double arrow to view it full screen. Adjust the slider to find the right balance between details in the buildings on the left and details in the mountain on the right. When done, click the double arrow to exit full-screen mode. 

The major drawback with HDR is that it’s a battery hog. If you’re using a laptop, you’ll want to return to the Windows HD Color settings screen in Windows 10 and the HDR settings screen in Windows 11 to adjust the battery options. Under the Battery options section, you can optimize the display for battery life or image quality. Click the drop-down box for Battery options and set it to Optimize for battery life.

Color Management Settings

You can fine-tune your colors even further via Control Panel. Open Control Panel in icon view (Click View by on the top right and select Large icons or Small icons). Click Color Management and select the Advanced tab. Select the Calibrate display button and follow the instructions in the Color Calibration tool. You’ll be asked to adjust the gamma, brightness, contrast, and color balance of the screen. Click Next to move to each screen.

When you’re finished, Windows takes you to the ClearType Tuner. Make sure ClearType is turned on and then view the five thumbnail screens of text to decide which one looks best on each page. When you’ve gone through all the TrueType screens, click the Finish button.

Scale and Resolution Settings

Next, you may want to tweak the size and resolution of your screen. Return to the Display settings screen and go to the section for Scale & layout. By default, Windows sets these items based on recommended values. But if you find that the on-screen text is too small or the resolution isn’t right, you can change them. Is the text hard to read? Click the drop-down menu for Change the size of text, apps, and other items and you can to make the screen larger by intervals of 25%.

You can also tweak the scaling more precisely. In Windows 10, click the link for Advanced scaling settings. In Windows 11, click the entry for Scale. At the next screen, you can enter a number between 100 and 500. But be cautious when you do this as using the wrong scale can cause text to become blurry. After you type a number, click the Apply button in Windows 10 and the checkmark in Windows 11. You’ll then need to sign out of Windows for the new setting to take effect.

If the text appears blurry after you change the display settings beyond their recommended values, return to the Settings screen and turn on the switch for Let Windows try to fix apps so they’re not blurry in Windows 10. Otherwise, you can click the link in Windows 10 or 11 for Turn off custom scaling and sign out.

Finally, every PC display is optimized for a certain resolution based on its size and other factors, but you can still change the resolution. At the Display settings screen, click the drop-down box for Display resolution. Try different resolutions to test how they look. Click the Revert button to go back to your default resolution.

The orientation of your screen should automatically be set based on whether you’re using a computer or tablet. However, if the orientation is not correct, or you wish to change it for some reason, click the drop-down menu for Display orientation and switch it to Portrait or Landscape.