OK, this will go against the kids wisdom (had to fix it after mine "helped" me).  Go to "Start" "Control Panel" "Display" "Settings" and push the little slider control all the way to the left to the lowest resolution.  Then click "Apply" and close it all.

Son was looking at my computer and said "Dad, you can get better resolution than this" and started scrolling and clicking.  I got better resolution, but everything shrunk.  So when he left I set it back the way I wanted it.

Now that you are in the current century you ought to spend some of your moldy money and get one of those thin monitors.  Daughter gave me one for Christmas (actually I think someone gave it to her and she doesn't need it for her laptop) and it is great!  It takes up a whole lot less acreage on my desk.