Solved Giant Minimize Maximize Exit Buttons File Explorer

When I woke up today I noticed my buttons are really huge now. My computer was on the whole time too. I installed a new monitor yesterday thats 1920x1080, instead of my laptops 1600x900 but Im not sure this is the reason why its displaying like that. Anybody know why its like that and how to fix it?

Hi Donnie!

Could we have more info pls on the external display and the notebook.
Did you try the OSD (on screen display) of the new
display to see if you can rectify your problem. I'm suspecting
that the notebook's display 1600 x 900 is being transferred
to the external display.

I just switched back to my laptop and the same thing is being displayed there too. The big buttons are being shown no matter which screen I choose or what display settings I choose, its really weird. Must be some new update or something.

Edit: Screenshot of laptop screen only with 100% and 1600x900 settings. Top wrapper is file explorer and the one below it is notepad.

Doonie said:

I just switched back to my laptop and the same thing is being displayed there too. The big buttons are being shown no matter which screen I choose or what display settings I choose, its really weird. Must be some new update or something.

Edit: Screenshot of laptop screen only with 100% and 1600x900 settings. Top wrapper is file explorer and the one below it is notepad.

Click to expand...

I know that the 1600 x 900 gives a larger view of the fonts but, those close and minimize button are way too spread out
from each other.
I also see that you don't have a ribbon at the top. Is this the way you have it set?
Have you tried those 3 dots at the end to see what's hiding?
If you disconnect the external display, do you get the same results?
Which display is it ? name .

Try restarting the Windows Explorer process. In a Admin command prompt type:

taskkill /im explorer.exe /f & start explorer.exe

Have you installed ANY third party app that alters the GUI? If so, there's a possibility there's been a windows update that affected it. If you have such an app installed, either uninstall it or see if the developer of the app has updated it.

I tried the command prompt thing but nothing changed. I also remembered when I woke up I checked windows update and there was two optional updates I installed that might of messed things up. I was able to rollback only one of them (my external monitor) but the other one (Hp Inc. HID) I wasnt able to rollback or uninstall that update. I been noticing alot of programs borders are huge now with huge buttons like I showed before.

I was able to fix it by using system restore. Luckily I set a restore point yesterday before I fell asleep. The only thing is system restore removes all registry tweaks (it removed startallback and right click classic menu etc) and most programs get ruined from using restore. So you have to go to settings and open apps and press repair on all the ones that get broken (mostly pc apps like snippet tool, paint etc) . First one I repaired was the microsoft store, then inside the store I updated all the apps there. Then one by one I had to repair all the apps (mainly pc related apps, 3rd party installed apps dont get broken), three dots/advanced options/repair.

Doonie said:

I was able to fix it by using system restore. Luckily I set a restore point yesterday before I fell asleep. The only thing is system restore removes all registry tweaks (it removed startallback and right click classic menu etc) and most programs get ruined from using restore. So you have to go to settings and open apps and press repair on all the ones that get broken (mostly pc apps like snippet tool, paint etc) . First one I repaired was the microsoft store, then inside the store I updated all the apps there. Then one by one I had to repair all the apps (mainly pc related apps, 3rd party installed apps dont get broken), three dots/advanced options/repair.

Click to expand...

I'm glad that you were able to use System Restore to fix your problem. I have had so many failures trying to use System Restore that I gave up using it. If you have a external drive to use I recommend that you start using a imaging program. Macrium is the one I highly recommend and the free version is still available but harder to find. There are other free imaging software available. I just started using Hasleo and so far it seems to do a good job of making backup images. Making the emergency boot disk was a pain though. If you want to try Macrium let me know and I'll try to find a download link.

Edit: Here is the download link for the free version of Macrium from Major Geeks. Download Macrium Reflect FREE Edition - MajorGeeks

I can't see that apps get broken when you use system restore.
I have been using it since 7 and if used correctly, it should not fail
or break any of your apps. If you click on the "scan for affected programs"
and you disable your security, you shouldn't have any problems.

So I stopped using the external monitor today because it suddenly got this white stain line going across it and when I switched back to my laptop the same thing happened again. WTF

This is a bug or something with windows 11 when switching from screen resolution sizes from external monitor to laptop resolution.