General Chat

I'm unable to add any new people to my tree as the box is too low on the screen. I cannot access the 'Save' button. This is a new problem and any help/suggestions would be much appreciated. :-(

Hi Variety, Welcome to the boards

I had a similar problem, which I solved by altering my zoom view

If you are using internet Explorer, on the top line in the right-hand corner, there should be a cogwheel symbol.

Just left click on it and you will see a drop down box of various tools, one of which is the zoom. To save my work I use 75% which makes the whole screen smaller and should bring the save button into view.

Because of poor eyesight I normally use a zoon of 125%, which means that the box is too big to see the save button.

It took me a while to get there but I finally worked it out :-)

Another way to alter the size is to hold down the Ctrl button then tap the - or + sign.

The best method is to use a bigger screen! It is ez to get a 19in screen on eBay for around £20 and 22in for under £40 esp in 5:4 format. Most laptop accept an external screen. A decent budget new screen is around £100. Windows XP and later supports dual screen out of the box. For Fh having the tree on one screen and investigations on another is a real plus.

Rollo, most people want a simple solution, not to spend additional pounds on screens.

Most people have grasped that the days of 1024x768 and 1440x900 are pretty well over and have upgraded their gear. Designers for the desktop just don't consider what was top notch 10 years ago. Plugging in a screen ug either as replacement or 2nd screen is as ez and cheap as it gets. For sure a far better approach than mucking about with screen res.

Low res screens tend to go with XP. With XP ClearType is set to off by default. It should be set on as it SIG. improves resolution of text for all apps.

Sorry Rollo but most people look at their bank balances and the space they have available to set up IT equipment. Laptops are becoming more popular and affordable than desktops. Not only do they tend to be cheaper, but they are portable even if its only to balance on your lap whist sitting on the sofa.

With a few exceptions, the majority of GR posters don't have a background in IT and have picked things up as they go along.

That's why, when we have problems we can't fix, we ask those who are in the know ;-) :-D

? I don't think you need any sort of qualification in IT in order to plug a screen into a DVI or VGA socket !!! Larf out loud.

Springing a max of £ 30 for a used screen does not seem to be especially stressful either. If it is then family history should not be any kind of budget priority.

In 2015 laptops as a home machine are a poor idea falling into a hole between iPads and such on the one side and a proper desktop on the other. Typical old/cheap laptop resolution is 1600x900 or worse with a crummy graphics chip typically Intel GMA. Adding a 2nd screen makes them far more usable. ditto plugging in a proper keyboard and mouse for a few pounds or the spares box.

Laptops have also fallen out of favour for biz users. To a great extent a high end smart phone will cover what's needed and a pad device most of the gap and it will fit into a briefcase. That's why you don't see so many people on the 8:02 to town hoisting laptops on their shoulders.

Their are of course high end "gaming" laptops which weigh a ton yet don't really cut the mustard at a LAN party. High end biz laptops tend to fix the weight problem by ditching DVD drives and even hard disk spinners in favour of SSDs. They look flash but tend to costa lotta.

If looking for a small fast cheap machine then a DELL Optiplex running Intel CoreDuo with Windows 7 is quite ez to source at well under £ 100. It will knock the spots off any laptop.

Ancestry have an "app" for Android and iPad which has got better and better. Unlike GRU it automatically adapts to whatever res. the phone/pad device has. Given the zero investment into GRu and its slightly more upmarket siblings don't hold yr breath for much improvement from D C Thomson FH.

I don't own an Ipad, smart phone or a desktop PC, and my laptop suits me just fine as a home machine regardless of how poor an idea in 2015 it may be considered to be.

Thank you all for your speedy response. Reducing the setting to 100% has solved the problem. Because of relatively poor eyesight I had it set on 125%. I can easily switch between the settings as required. I've had this laptop for nine months and until yesterday hadn't had a problem. The mysteries of electronics! :-D

I'm glad that fixed the problem :-)

Variety - if you are now finding the text to be a little small, instead you could try pressing F11.

This should be towards the top right of your keyboard but you may have to press Fn (probably towards bottom left of keyboard) or the Shift key at the same time for it to work depending on your machine/keyboard.

What this does is toggle full screen mode on and off.

Set your zoom level back to 125% and then try full screen mode. If your problem persists, gradually reduce zoom using the "Custom" setting. To create even more space you could even remove the status bar which runs along the bottom, if it is currently set to display.

If you need any step by step guides to the above in plain English please feel free to ask.