(EXCUSE my NONTECHNICAL knowledge, I am at a loss here so if anyone could help me out I'd really appreciate it!)

I have Windows XP on my Acer laptop - I turned it on one day and the whole desktop looked like it had been stretched out - all the characters were blurry. It extends to everything else on my computer - ie. you know how if you have a box you can drag it so it's larger or smaller, well it's like my whole screen was dragged to make it too big for the monitor. I don't have any adjustment wheels on the outside of the laptop, I've tried adjusting display properties, but nothing works. If anyone has any suggestions, PLEASE let me know! THANK you!Right clik any empty area of the desktop and select Poperties...change the resolution SETTING one clik at a time until it returns to normal.
Some machines require a re-boot each time for the changes to take effect.thanks...I tried that (under screen resolution?) There's a slider you can move from "less" to "more" however I am only able to go from one extreme to the other, it won't let me move it anywhere in the middle. What video card do you have? Also are you running the lastest drivers for it?
Boot into Safe Mode / go to DEVICE Manager / uninstall the graphics/video and monitor drivers / reboot.

Now follow Patio's suggestion.

Alan <><