Windows 10 update help?

Okay, so: It’s not a screen resolution problem. There are black bars at the top, bottom, left and right sides of my screen now and I can’t figure out how to fix this. I Googled it, and there’s something about getting into the computer registry and entering things manually, but every time it’s mentioned it comes with huge warnings about how easy it is to screw up your computer by accessing the registry.

So does anyone know if I have any other options? I updated from Windows 7 and apparently a lot of people have had this problem. Is the only fix to go back to 7?

… 2 hours later, I’m going crazy. Definitely should have waiting to upgrade to 10. Think this might only be fixable by Microsoft.

Still. If anyone has any kind of suggestion…

Editing the Registry is perfectly safe so long as you follow four simple rules;

1) Make sure that the proposed edit is from a reliable source. Someone who makes a living telling people how to setup/adjust/tweak their computers will either give good advice that won’t mess up your system or find their reputation tarnished enough that they will be forced into a different vocation in short order. So if one of the writers for Maximum PC suggests a Registry edit, odds are that it’s a more reliable edit than one proposed by some random stranger who knows more about the mating habits of Australian sheepdogs than about computers.

2) If you don’t know what it is and you aren’t explicitly instructed to mess with it, just leave it alone.

3) Before you commit the change by saving it, double-check that you typed exactly what you are supposed to.

4) After you double-check but before you commit the change by saving it, check one last time to make sure that you typed exactly what you are supposed to.

While editing the Registry is potentially dangerous, every problem caused by editing the Registry are the result of violating one of those rules. Maybe they overestimated the credentials of some guy named “Nerdgasm69” on some obscure Reddit blog, maybe they made a typo, or maybe they decided to be adventurous and make up their own instructions, but one way or another they broke at least one of those rules and reaped the consequences.

When I first got my GTX465, I had a bit of that “letterboxing” myself. It wasn’t a Windows thing though; I fixed it by adjusting the properties of my video card using nVidia Control Panel.

Do you know how I would get to the AMD control panel? This computer uses an ATI Radeon 4300/4500 driver. I checked for updates to it, just to be sure it wasn’t something as simple as that, but it was up-to-date.

If I even attempt to make changes to the registry, it won’t be happening right now because I’m too frustrated from trying to fix this for hours now. And tired. I’d definitely screw something up.

I keep seeing people who have had the same issue say that doing an overscan with the Catalyst Control Center completed fixed their issue. But: This computer doesn’t have the CCC. I also just came across something that said there’s an option to get into the AMD Control Center that also has an overscan option, but I have no idea if the AMD Control Center is already on most computers, or if it’s something you have to download.

Ideally, I’d like to stay out of the registry if possible.

Nope. Can’t get access to the AMD Control Center, either. At this point, I think the only option is getting into the registry.

I’m throwing in the towel at this point. Very frustrated and I’m passing out.

The AMD Catalyst Control Center download is here

The drivers for the video card are rarely preinstalled, and in the rare occasion that they are, they are out of date and thus need updating anyways.

AMD GPUs use Catalyst.

So, this is like the 5th person to experience problems. I’m thinking I should not upgrade to Windows 10.

I’m there too..I was going to update but I have zero patience for crazy computer issues, I’ll wait til someone I know who is super tech savvy can assist me. haha

@Dutchess_III There are many other things as well, like the spyware, but suffice it to say that if I leave Win7 behind, it will be for Linux rather than any newer edition of Windows. With things like WINE to run many Windows programs that lack Linux versions anyways, the biggest obstacle is actually xenophobia, and I cleared that one years ago with regards to Linux.

Did you say “WINE”? Well, if you insist.

Why would Microsoft roll something out that was so glitchy?

This is what happens when Marketing overrides Engineering.

Boy am I ever glad I went Mac.

@SQUEEKY2 Looking at some of the debacles Apple has had, well, you know that old saying about glass houses and throwing stones…

@jaytkay and @jerv I already tried that last night. Nothing worked. I truly think my only option at this point is getting into the registry or going back to 7.

As for anyone else thinking about upgrading to 10 right now, yeah… I don’t recommend it. :-/

I have XP and I’m fine with it. What can 10 do that XP can’t?

Windows XP is no longer getting security updates. Hackers are happy that their new exploits won’t be countered.

@Dutchess_III Yep, @jaytkay nailed it. Win7 still has a few years of support left, and that likely will force them to extend support for Win7 as well, just as they had to do with WinXP after all the backlash against Vista.

Well, for what it’s worth, it looks like Microsoft tried installing Windows 10 for the last 5 days without me, and failed.
It did succeed in installing an update to Windows 7 on the 13th.
So I guess I’ll just wait.