FIX PROBLEMS WITH YOUR MONITOR
Calibrate your monitor
Windows includes a Display Colour Calibration tool you can use to improve your monitor’s display quality and potentially fix problems.
To use it, type calibrate into the Windows search box and select ‘Calibrate display colour’. If you have more than one monitor attached to your PC, drag the calibration window to the one you want to adjust. Click ‘Next’ and follow the on-screen instructions.
The tool lets you tweak your monitor’s gamma (the relationship between red, green and blue colour values), brightness and contrast (see screenshot above right), and colour balance, as well as turning on ClearType to make text easier to read.
Updating the drivers for your monitor and graphics card can also solve problems with colour and vertical or horizontal lines across your screen.
Adjust your refresh rate
Increasing the refresh rate of your monitor can result in much smoother visuals, and stop your screen flickering. In Windows 10 or 11, open Settings and choose System, then Display. Click the ‘Advanced display settings’ link and select a different refresh rate in the dropdown menu (see screenshot below).
The options available will depend on the make and model of your screen (it’s possible you won’t be able to change from the default), but try increasing the refresh rate, which is measured in hertz (Hz) – how many times per second your monitor is able to draw a new image – to see if it fixes your display problem.
Flickering and stuttering (when your screen goes black) can also be caused by a faulty monitor cable so make sure yours is connected securely. If you have a spare VGA/HDMI cable, try using that instead.
Fix stuck pixels
Stuck pixels – which look like red, green or blue dots – needn’t mean you need to upgrade your monitor. Visit the website JScreenFix (www.snipca.com/43176) and click the Launch JScreenFix button to run its free pixel fixer. Drag the square containing what looks like TV distortion over a stuck pixel and leave the tool running for at least 10 minutes. It uses HTML5 and JavaScript to try and unstick your frozen pixel so that it works again. You may need to run the tool a few times. JScreenFix may also solve problems with ‘image persistence’ – when graphics linger on your screen after you’ve closed the related program.
Another option is to press the stuck pixel with a soft cloth, but don’t apply too much pressure or you could damage your screen. Dead pixels, which are black, can’t usually be fixed.