Perhaps it is as simple as moving the lid/monitor backwards or forwards slightly to gain the maximum effect?

Thanks, owbist, that did help somewhat. I've got the lid as far back as it will go, and the colors are brighter. But the lettering on the start menu is still unreadable for the most part.

THanks again,
Ellen

Has anyone been experimenting with changing settings??? Wasnt dropped or banged.
If not and it is still difficult to read/faded etc it maybe a faulty laptop..I dont suppose you are trying to read it with the sun shining on the screen or something similar. Seems strange it would be fine for 5 weeks then suddenly go wierd for no reason

Have you tried to raise or lower the screen brightness with the appropriate Function keys?

Kudzu, it's not the brightness. It's the contrast. For example, when I go to Google, the search box is all faded out. I know it's there, and I can write in the search box, but the box is not visible.

I understood you said "contrast," but sometimes the brightness settings can mimic that, so I thought I'd mention it. I'm assuming this is new and still under warranty. I'd take it to the place you bought it, if local, or get on the phone with tech support. I've had several Toshibas and never had this issue. When you find out what is going on, it would be great if you could post again here. Good luck.

Thank you, everyone, for your replies. Turns out there is a Toshiba menu that hides off on the left of the screen that I found super annoying - always popping up when I moved my cursor too far to the left. Anyway, there is a "settings" icon that I clicked on, and found all sorts of tuning bars that I used to correct my problem.

Thanks again for all your help,
Ellen

Thanks for the update...glad to hear it was "easy." I wonder how it got out of whack in the first place.