Tutorials

• Make your own 'transparent' display

  Once you've seen some amazing pictures of seemingly transparent LCD screens, you may want to create your own optical illusion. After researching the topic, I wanted to give it a try, too. So I'm going to show you the simplest way I've found to create the effect. All you'll need is a digital camera, photo-editing software, and about an hour to produce the image.

• VGA, DVI or HDMI for a monitor connection?

  Reader Mike ordered a new Dell system that came with a 21.5-inch LCD monitor. Although the monitor includes VGA, DVI, and HDMI inputs, it included only a VGA cable--even though the setup instructions recommend a DVI or HDMI connection! Mike wants to know why, and whether he should bother buying a different cable.

• Switch to full-screen view in your favorite apps

  Monitor space is a terrible thing to waste. Yet most of us sacrifice valuable screen estate to omnipresent toolbars, which appear in our Web browsers, our word processors, and other apps.