This is a common question, and usually involves a cat. Some video cards allow you to flip the video sideways so you could turn your monitor sideways for more screen real estate. This is probably good for tablet laptop PC’s or lcd displays that allow you to flip the screen 90 degrees. I think most users accidentally stumble into this hidden feature.
If your computer monitor is sideways or upside down right now your neck must be straining from reading this so here’s how to fix it.
Press:
- CTRL + ALT + Up Arrow
– if the “Up” arrow doesn’t work try the “down” arrow or left or right
I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Eric Hundin
Thank you so much. My 2 year old changed the display on my computer at work, and I had no idea whatsoever how to fix it, or how to get my work done.
Thank God for your help. I was becoming rather desperate!
Thanks- too funny! Our kitten sat on my daughter’s laptop, and it had her worried. Cracked us up to see ‘this is a common problem and usually involves a cat’!
THANK YOU! I laughed out loud when I read “If your computer monitor is sideways or upside down right now your neck must be straining from reading”… you pegged it!
Good April fools joke. Flip the screen and watch everyone squirm
THANK YOU!! My 1 year old smashed his toy on the keyboard and vola!! lol I had no luck trying to recreate the accidental mashing of keys!! haha
My best friend called me from 1600 miles away and asked me if I could fix her “sideways” computer. I’m only in my second week of a college computer class so I wasn’t feeling too helpful until I found your website with the solution…thank you!
Bless you, what a relief!
Thanks so much. I have two cats and woke up to the screen messed up. My neck is hurting for the last 10 min. of trying to fix it. Thanks for this website!!!!!!!!!!
Not a cat, but a TODDLER was the culprit. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how my three-year old daughter had done this, and she of course couldn’t tell me what keys she had pressed. It didn’t help that the mouse oriented itself to the sideways screen either.
Thank you so very much. I’m bookmarking your page. Oh, look — I can turn it upside down!
LOL…MY COMPUTER WAS SIDEWAYS FOR 4 DAYS AND MY NECK WAS KILLING ME…BLESS YOU WHO EVER RUNS THIS WEBSITE…UH.. I HOPE I DID NOT CHANGE ANYTHING ELSE WHILE I WAS TRYING TO FIX IT……I’M SO RELIEF!!!!! THANK YOU!!
“this is a common question & usually involve a cat..” I just crack up the moment I hit that first sentence.. you bet it was!!
Many many thanks!
Thank you!!!! My son and I were trying to troubleshoot his laptop over the phone and were stumped, so I did a search on computer display is sideways and your fix worked! His computer has been like that for days, and now we do suspect the cat 🙂
Classic with the CAT comment. He did it and you fixed it. Hilarious!!!
OMG!! Thanks so much!! I don’t know if it was my kids or cats…either way I was so confused and had no clue how to fix it! lol I am SO glad I googled and found your site w/how to fix it! 🙂
I have the problem, but this didnt help :'(
Ahhh! Thank you!
Thank you soooo much for the fix!! Spent hours trying to tweak this myself.
Cats should not be allowed to do this type of thing. this is how they get such a bad name. either way, i am glad that my screen is fixed. i almost decided to make Chinese food out of my cats but i changed my mind. thank you guys. i love you. no more neck problems.
ernesto
Thank u so muchhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
laughed outloud when I read the first line… a cat was the culprit in my sideways screen fiasco. Thanks for the help.
lo my foot was the culprit i accidentaly stepped on my laptop, not hard though, it was on my spae bed on the ground >,<
thank you soooooooooooo much, it is kinda hard looking for a job on the internet when you have to look sideways….lol, I still don’t know how it happened but it is fixed now…..thanks again 🙂
THANK U SOOOOO MUCH!!!! my screen is fixed!!!!!
I was looking for information on how to change the screen sideways as I am running Vista with a 17 in laptop.
I was thinking it could help when reading newpaper content or maybe even put the book tablets out of business if we could get publishing that would be available to our laptops.
you just saved me a lot of aggravation with my screen display going sideways. I was going to try a system restore and then found this and it worked! Thanks so much 🙂
didn’t work for me…also, my touchpad/mouse does not work either
if i knew who you were, i would be sucking your balls right now.
thank you
Thank you so much! This completely saved me, very much appreciated!
my computer is sideways
thanks for the advice, my neck was starting to hurt lol.
Because this screen flipping thing freaked us out at the studio.
We record on a Miko LXD keyboard which comes with a PC computer and monitor built inside. All i remember is leaning over the keyboard and BOOM screen was sideways. I took it apart but couldn’t find anything wrong. So i GOOGLE what happened and came across your site! God was definitely listening!
Thanks a trillion!
I seriously almost killed my cat. Thanks so much.
If the ctrl+alt+up process does not work for you as it didn’t for me, right-click onto a blank space of your home-screen (where all your icons are), select ‘graphic options’, then ‘graphic properties’ and right your computer under the ‘rotate’ tab.
thank you! you are a genius!
THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!! This was a life saver!
Whew……..thank you…..an hour wasted and you solved my problem :o)
Thank you!!!! I thought this was going to cost me!
My computer screen display turned sideways for no known reason (but I do suspect our kitten). I spent ages trying to get it back again without gain. Found this website and I had it back the right way within 10 seconds. Many thanks, great info.
Cheers
Dave B
Thank You so much! My one year old on is so fascinated with my laptop. He finally made it to his prey, my laptop. He banged on it about 3 times and sent me into pure panic mode!
Thank you for the sideways computer solution. I didn’t have to call my jerk of an ex boyfriend to help me fix it so I am really relieved. I owe you one.
Always a pleasure.
My cat just did this… he loves me so. Thank you so much for having the fix on a website. I was having a hard time paying bills.
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!! Instead of a cat, it was my 3 year old!!
You can also go in and do a search for screen orientation and flip it to primary landscape.
Oh my gosh, thank god for your help! My screen tilting was due to a weenie dog pup. I saw him walk across and was like “noooo” and nothing happened.. ahhh, sigh of relif…then before i could finnish, the screen went black and popped up sideways. Never seen such a thing before, and was really freaked out. Such an easy fix too! Thanks again!!!
Yep, my cat did this and I had no idea what combination of keys she stepped on, so I googled “page turned sideways on computer screen” and your site was the first link. I laughed when I read “…..usually involves a cat.” Too true!
Thanks.
Yeah just access graphics properties. This is a common problem haha.
hey, i must thank you, that was very uncomfortable lol
OMG thankyou SOOOOOOO much, I was stressing big time, and I just love google and this site SOOOO much, you saved me thats for sure, so much work to do and now I can do it, oh and no cat or even toddler to blame for this one, I did it myself and have no idea how LOL, thanks again x
Thank you so much! I do have my kitten to blame for this one. She was walking across my keyboard and next thing I know I am looking sideways. This was a big help. I was worried she had damaged something. I have enough computer problems as it is. Now this is not one of them. Thank you again.
Thank you !!!!!!My screen went sideways. I had no Idea what to do and yes my neck was starting to hurt. LOL. You fix was easy anf fast THANKS
Thank you so very much! Oddly enough, my cat IS to blame…the little snot jumped up onto the keyboard and started mashing keys like it was grape-stompin’ time.
That was a huge help!! Thanks for getting right to the point.
It was the cat!!
Thank U sincerely & hugely 🙂
… P.S. I am the only cat to blame 😉 ~*
oh thank you o thank you if u didnt help me i would of been killed thanks
Glad to see that my CAT is not the only one fascinated by my laptops keyboard!!!
Thank you. In my case it was two overzealous little boys who were pushing buttons for fun. Now I know how to fix it.
Thank you so much, Askabouttech.com you really helped me out. I was despondent about my laptop screen and needed assistance.
thank you so much. I don’t know if it was a 2 year old, 4 year old or one of our cats, but I was going through all the personalization settings to figure it out and couldn’t find it. This solution was so simple! Thanks!!
It was a 2 year old that did it over here. Thanks so much for the quick fix! And the humor, LOL!
Thank you so much! I was really hoping someone would know.
Thank you SOOO much!! I laughed out loud when I read this because my cat IS to blame. TOO FUNNY!
Hi, I tried the ALT+CTL+Up Arrow(and all the other arrows, but it still hasn’t fixed the problem on my Lenovo T410. Please help, this is my work laptop!
Thank you!
Omg thank you so much!
Thank you
You have saved my wife a lot of stress..and me too!
thank u very much could not have done it without u
bless you. and yes, it was my cat!
I am so grateful for this quick fix! Yes, our cat often does tap the keys, but in this case, I was the guilty culprit.
Thank you so much…I was afraid I did something wrong and I probably as I know enough to be dangerous….thank you again.
you are a life saver god bless you. THANK YOU SO MUCH
thanx that worked
Thank you very much, been trying 2 hours to fix it. It wasn’t a cat that did this—it was a WOLFE.