It can happen anytime and to anyone. One fine day, without anyone knowing why, everything displayed on the PC screen turned. The display flipped 90 degrees (a quarter turn), or even 180 degrees (a half turn). The taskbar finds itself glued to one edge of the screen or to its top… In short, everything is upside down! Difficult to use Windows under these conditions, especially since with the display upside down, the mouse becomes uncontrollable, its movements following the orientation of the screen. Moving the pointer up leads to a side-swipe that the brain struggles to process.
But rest assured, this is neither a bug nor a failure. The user will simply have unknowingly activated a special display mode by inadvertently pressing a few keys on the keyboard. This little used function aims to adapt the display on screens in portrait mode (higher than wide), very practical for entering long documents or lines of code. Fortunately, there are simple keyboard shortcuts to apply to restore a normal situation. And if they don’t work, you can change your Windows display preferences…at the cost of some temporary fiddling.
With keyboard shortcuts
If they are often the cause of evil, Windows keyboard shortcuts are also the remedy. Here are the ones that are good to know so that the display comes back in the right direction. Depending on the PC models, they may require the use of more or fewer keys.
Simultaneously press the Ctrl + Alt keys. Hold them down and then press the up or down arrow key to flip the display 180° and return to a normal display.
Simultaneously press the Ctrl + Alt keys. Hold them down and then press the left or right arrow key to flip the display 90°.
If these key combinations do not work, replace the Alt key with the AltGr key on the keyboard (placed to the right of the spacebar). The shortcut then becomes Ctrl + AltGr + up or down arrow to return to a normal display.
Note that on some PC models, it is unnecessary to use the Alt or AltGr keys. Simply press the Ctrl key and an arrow key simultaneously to change the orientation of the display and return to normal.
Via Windows Settings
Keyboard shortcuts don’t work? The keyboard driver may be misconfigured. But with a little dexterity and tilting your head during the operation, you will be able to put the display back in place.
First, place the top of the mouse in the same direction as the top of the screen. This will make it easier to move the pointer. Then right-click on a blank area of the desktop. From the pop-up menu that appears, choose Display Settings.
Scroll down the contents of the window that appears. Click the drop-down menu in the Display Orientation section. Choose Landscape (at the very top of the list). Everything returns to normal. Click on Keep to validate your choice.
Sources: writing and web
It can happen anytime and to anyone. One fine day, without anyone knowing why, everything displayed on the PC screen turned. The display flipped 90 degrees (a quarter turn), or even 180 degrees (a half turn). The taskbar finds itself glued to one edge of the screen or to its top… In short, everything is upside down! Hard…