Why can't I play computer games in full screen?

Parts cut off on tv screen when i play d2 and sc on my comp?

• ok my dad uses a hp screen for a monitor insted of a normal comp screen. so i play diablo 2 and guess what? a very important part is cut off. the top. the place where the monster's health bar is. and in starcraft, the top is cut off, too. I mean, WHY THE TOP???? I cant see how much minerals and vespene gas i have. its very annoying. (sry ppl who dont play these games, it must sound very wierd to u.) in general, all im asking u is when i play full screen games, how come parts are black???how come theyre cut off!!! it is annoying! plz tell me how to fix this problem. and also, my computer is new and it says it has a bad vid card or something and the comp shows wierd colors and everything is the wrong color, and the rain is like neon sprinkles. also when sc is loading, kerrigan and terran guy and protoss is all balck and white and then it turns good. im sorry for all these questions. and the runnons. thanks for the help.

• Answer:

  It sounds like to me that all of this is a video card/graphic card problem. If you are having all these problems while in games but not when you are running other applications (such as Word, Internet Explorer, etc) than you probably don't have a powerful enough video card. Games require much more powerful cards than regular programs. To tell if this is the problem and not that the video card on the computer is just bad it really depends on how much you paid for the computer. If you under $500 or a little over, they company that gave you the computer probably didn't put a very good card on it. If you paid over $1,000 you should probably contact the manufacturer to tell them the card is bad. I'll assume that you don't have a great card on their now. What you will have to do is look in the manual of the computer under a section call upgrading or video cards or Expansion Slots, something like that. You need to find out what type of card your computer can have, it will either be PCI (lower end systems (this type of card is the least powerful)), AGP (Older systems/middle of the road systems (middle of the road cards)), PCI Express (upper end, newer systems (most powerful type of card, the one you want)). Understand here that if your computer specifies one of these, you HAVE to go with the type, the are NOT compatible with each other and will not work if you get the wrong type. To get a new card you are going to want to get one that is supported and will probably cost you $150 + for a good one, don't cheap out because it won't work good for future games. I recommend going with an ATI or Nvidia Graphics card because these are the top two brands and I have had good experience with both of them. Once you install the card you will need to go to the manufacturers website and download the latest drivers for the card. A driver is just what makes the card work on the computer. Newer once fix problems and give new features for the card. The games should work good now. If you already have a good graphics card, go to the manufacturers website and download the latest drivers for the card and make sure everything is up to date, even on new computers, the software can sometimes be months or even years old, which could cause problems. If this was all to confusing, go to a computer store such as Best Buy (however if you have a small mom and pop type store, go there because they will probably know more about computers than Best Buy). Bring in the computer or the model number and the brand so they can find what cards can go with your computer. They should be able to tell you how to put the card in or can do it for you, although its really not that hard. (The store near us will let you install it right in front of them and they will tell you what to do so that you don't have to pay an installation fee, another benefit of going to a smaller store). After all of this, the games should run without problems. I know what you are going through! I had huge problems with games like this and had to purchase a new video card, and all the problems were solved. Hope this Helps! Good Luck!