> This laptop has a black band an inch wide on both sides of the screen. How do I make it fill out so that I can use all of the screen width?
>
> I've been nosing around for a while but I'm not smart enough to figure it out.
> Howard

It sounds like this may be an issue with the resolution (the dimensions the screen is told to occupy); it might be that the screen is told to use dimensions that don't fit the physical dimensions of the monitor. (That is, the aspect ratios are different. It's like watching a widescreen movie on a normal television; black bars allow the screen to fit the differently shaped rectangle.) If you right-click on the wallpaper on the desktop and select Properties, then click the Settings tab, you should be able to change the dimensions by sliding around a bar under the words "Screen resolution." (It should have such things available as 800x600, 1024x768, and 1280x1024. The higher the numbers, the smaller each dot is.) At least, I think that's right. I'm on a Mac right now and I'm going by memory and a quick search online.

This might not be your problem, but it's something to check. Standard settings include the three I mentioned above; you might want to try a few and see what you like best. Hope that helps.