Although my new flat screen monitor (Acer LCD) is very nice, all the colours are out of whack. For example: red is black, and blue and green strange variations of their former selves. The manual directs me to use the OSD (on-screen display) menu to alter the red/green/blue (RGB) balance but I am unable to select and modify the settings. A second (unrelated) problem is MSN Explorer will not load and I can also not access any password protected websites using Internet Explorer. Scanning the computer for spyware using SpywareBlaster and Spybot Search & Destroy does not find any items of concern. Interestingly enough, Mozilla does not have any of these problems. The computer is running Windows XP Professional.

As you mentioned, the most probable cause of this problem is that the colour (RGB) balance is significantly out of sync. There should be no reason why you cannot modify the RGB colour, because even if the monitor is connected to your computer using a digital (DVI) interface (which can block some setting modification, such as image positioning) the colour balance should always be available for modification. The OSD menu can be quite difficult to navigate, so make sure you are pressing the correct keys to gain access to the menu system. You should also make sure the monitor cable is firmly connected to both the monitor and computer, as VGA cables which are not fully connected (i.e. do not have all pins in proper contact) can display images with incomplete colour information. Should the problem still continue, I suggest contacting Acer for further advice since there is the possibility the monitor is faulty.

Regarding the second issue of MSN Explorer not working and being unable to open any password protected websites in Internet Explorer, the common theme between these two issues is the inability to access password protected websites. As MSN Explorer requires the user to login to Microsoft Passport to use the services of MSN Explorer and you are unable to login to websites through Internet Explorer, it seems the root of the problem in both cases is the inability to login to password protected websites.

Taking this further, most password protected websites (such as Microsoft Passport) use a digital certificate to verify the authenticity of the website and provide secure connections. Therefore, the issue could be related to MSN Explorer and Internet Explorer having difficulties connecting with such secure (SSL) websites. This would explain why you are unable to access these password protected websites. There is an article in Microsoft Knowledge Base (support.microsoft.com/kb/813442) which explains how to re-register Windows files, which should hopefully allow you to access the secure websites. Should this not resolve the issue, another MSKB article (support.microsoft.com/kb/303807) provides instructions for correcting some other issues which could cause this problem.

As a general rule, when such issues affect Windows components you should also try running the System File Checker. Go to the ‘Start’ menu > ‘Run’ and type ’sfc /scannow’ (without the quotes) and click OK. If the Windows installation files have not been locally cached to the hard drive (as is the case with most brand name machines), make sure you have your Windows CD handy during the process, since you may be prompted to copy files from the original Windows installation files.

You should next scan your computer for any adware or spyware which could be causing this behaviour. Download and scan your computer with Ad-Aware Personal (www.lavasoft.de), Spybot Search & Destroy (www.safer-networking.org), and Windows Defender Beta 2 (www.microsoft.com/downloads).