Have a look at the test images below, they are designed to help you adjust your screen to display images more accurately*. You may find that your monitor looks somewhat odd after adjustment, especially if you needed to change it a lot. This effect is quite normal and you will soon get used to it. The controls on your monitor may be physical adjustment knobs, or a menu may appear on the screen (this is produced by the monitor itself, so the mouse won't work with that particular menu).

*Note
Basic monitor calibration is not too difficult, but if you are not happy with changing settings on your machine, it is always best to ask someone who knows how to do it first. A well set up monitor should enhance your viewing of most sites. Incidentally, it is never a good move to adjust someone else's monitor without their permission.

Calibrating your monitor for viewing the photographs correctly

The strip shows a range of greys from pure black to pure white. You should be able to see a clear difference between each shade of grey, ranging from pure black (left) and pure white (right).

Along the top of the strips are alternate patches of black and dark grey. If it looks solid black to you (look very carefully), your monitor's brightness setting is too low. Increase it until you can -just- perceive the difference between the grey and the black squares.

If it resembles either of the two strips below, it is set too bright or too dark...