Our Windows computer can be used to carry out both professional and domestic tasks, so it is common for us to install a good number of applications and games on it. Sometimes we can find that one of them cannot be executed in full screen for whatever reason. When we talk about games, surely using the full screen is a priority, since if we play in window mode it is less immersive and we do not take advantage of the full space of our monitor.
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We can also find universal Windows programs that have been developed to be displayed in window mode, without the possibility of extending it to full screen. If we want to play our favorite games in full screen and we don’t know how to do it, we are going to check different ways to see its content in full screen.
Borderless window vs full screen
When we look for ways to optimize our games we often find ourselves with the question: is full screen or borderless window mode better? Broadly speaking, both modes are very similar, and they will surely work for us without problems. But they have some differences.
In “borderless window” mode , the resolution we can use is the desktop resolution, and if we change it, it will change the desktop resolution. Brightness and contrast settings generally don’t work when using desktop defaults, and we’re limited to whatever FPS we have set by default. As an advantage, we can switch between applications much more quickly and the consumption of computer resources will be lower.
The “full screen” mode brings with it several improvements. The graphics take full control of the screen and this allows us to better control the resolution, brightness, contrast and FPS of the game. In addition, the desktop is freed from memory, leaving all the resources available to the game. However, the task of switching between applications while playing is complicated, since the computer is allocating all the resources to running the game.
So which one is better? Whenever we can, it is better to choose full screen mode. Although we must try both and stay with the one that works best.
Open universal apps in full screen mode
As you can imagine, games are not the only software titles that we can open full screen on the Redmond system. In fact, on many occasions it will be very useful for us to be able to open UWP applications. With this format of programs, we actually refer to those that we download from the official store of the operating system, the Microsoft Store .
These programs differ greatly from those that we download from the Internet and install later on the PC, known as Win32. Having said that, we are going to show you below how to run these UWPs directly in full screen. It is worth mentioning that this is something that we are going to achieve through a simple keyboard shortcut that we will use whenever we need it.
Since the time immemorial of Windows, it has always been possible to launch some applications in full screen by pressing the f11 key. This option has already disappeared a few years ago, although there is a new option to do it.
Now, through the Windows tool, it is possible to open any type of universal application in full screen mode, such as the Edge browser or the Microsoft Store. To do this, it will only be necessary to launch any application and make sure that its entire window is maximized. Now using a simple keyboard shortcut formed by the Windows + Shift + Enter keys will help us to display the application in full screen.
At the moment that we no longer want to show the application in full screen, we can return it to normal mode. This is something as simple as hovering the mouse over the upper edge of the screen, where a bar will appear with an icon represented by two diagonal arrows pointing to each other. This bar has the option to exit full screen mode just by clicking on it. If we minimize it, the moment we maximize the application again, it will run in full screen mode again.
Quit full screen Microsoft Store
Run games full screen
But let’s go to what really interests us in this case, which is nothing more than running the games in Windows in full screen . This is something that will be very useful to us on most occasions, since we almost always prefer to run this entertainment software in full screen to enjoy it better. That is why in these same lines we are going to show you several methods with which you can achieve what we are commenting on. In this way you will have the possibility to choose the one that interests you the most in each case, largely depending on the number of times you are going to run that same game.
It is not the same to make changes to the system configuration for a title that we are going to open sporadically, than for another that we run almost daily.
Use a keyboard shortcut
The first and simplest method to display a game in full screen is to use the keyboard shortcuts Alt + Enter while playing the game. This method should work for most games , allowing us to switch between screen mode and full screen mode interchangeably. This shortcut works for DOSBox which is very common when playing old games. On the contrary, some games use this keyboard shortcut for other functions, so it will be necessary to force full screen through the game menu.
Although we cannot guarantee that practically all the games that we run in Windows can be viewed in full screen, it does happen with the majority. By this we mean that the title itself offers us some kind of internal parameter so that we can configure it and always open it this way. Therefore, if the previous method that we have told you about with the keyboard shortcut does not work, we can also try it from the game itself.
Look in the games settings menu
Within games, especially in more modern ones, they usually incorporate their own area to manage their settings in the menu. In this section it is likely that we will find the option to launch the game in Full Screen (Full Screen). To do this we must start the game and navigate to the video configuration section and verify that there is a display mode in the form of a drop-down. Here we must select the full screen mode. Once we are playing in full screen we can exit it, it is possible to press the Esc key to exit that mode or we will have to return to the configuration menu to choose another display method.
Game settings menu to run full screen
Scale the window manually
Most of the current games that we run on the Microsoft operating system allow us to configure them to be able to enjoy them in full screen. However, on certain occasions some of these developments are limited to your enjoyment in windowed mode. On many occasions this has some advantages, especially if at that moment we are working with other applications in Windows simultaneously. But we are faced with the assumption that what we want is to be able to improve the experience of using this playful software as much as possible.
In most cases, being able to set full screen mode in them will be very helpful. In fact, the operating system itself deactivates certain functions and activates others so that we can focus on the game itself and forget about the rest of the software. We have already seen some methods, the most common, to be able to execute all this in full screen. However, in the event that by default that title does not allow us, we can try to adapt the system window by hand. This is something that we can carry out in a similar way as we do with the rest of the Windows applications when we want to adapt its window.
With this, what we want to tell you is that we can place the mouse cursor on any of the four corners that make it up to resize it. As you can imagine, all this will allow us to increase the default size, at least in most cases, to somehow simulate the full screen that we are looking for in these lines. It is true that the experience is not the same as playing full screen natively, but at least we will have a larger and more optimized image for what interests us now.
From the game options
Not all games consume the same number of resources. For demanding games, some titles scan your computer components during the startup process to automatically adjust the graphics to the best possible settings. From the configuration options of the game itself, most titles allow us to modify the operation of the game, either full screen, in a window without borders or in a window. As the changes are shown in real time, we can try different combinations until we find the solution that will allow us to enjoy the title with the best fluidity and playability possible.
If we use an Nvidia graphics card, the GeForce Experience application is capable of analyzing the titles that we have installed on the computer and, based on the graphics that we have on the computer and the features of our computer (mainly processor and RAM memory), we it will suggest one setting or another. The settings it makes are the best possible to be able to enjoy a minimum of 60 frames per second. If our monitor offers us a higher refresh rate and the application recognizes it, it will also suggest the best configuration to enjoy the maximum fps per second.
But, in addition to suggesting and being able to apply the settings even before opening the game, it also allows us to modify them, including the possibility of running the game in full screen, with borders in a window. This option is available in the details of each game, by clicking on the wrench that is on the right side of the application as we show you in the following image.
GeForce Experience
In addition, it also allows us to prioritize the performance of the game or the graphic quality, so we have all the necessary tools to fully optimize the operation of the games that we install on our computer as long as they are compatible with this application, since not all They are.
Solve problems
It is possible that, although we have followed the previous steps, we find that, for some reason, it is impossible to put the game in full screen. And even, depending on the type of monitor we use, that Full Screen mode does not occupy 100% of the screen.
For this, we are going to see some possible solutions.
Set Windows screen scaling to 100%
Sometimes we may not be able to display games full screen if the display scaling is not set to 100% . In order to configure it, we must press the keyboard shortcut “Windows + I” and the “Settings” window will open. Now we select the “System” tab and then click on “Screen”. Next, we scroll down and look for the “Scale and distribution” option, where we will find the function to “Change the size of text, applications and other elements”. We will click on the drop-down menu and change it to 100%.
Windows Settings SystemWindows, Screen, Scale and Distribution100% screen setting
In Windows 11, this option is in the same section (System > Display), although the layout of the settings panel may vary.
Run the game in compatibility mode
There are situations where the game may not be compatible with Windows full screen mode. To do this, we can try to run the games in compatibility mode to try to solve the problem.
To do this we right-click on the game shortcut and select “Properties”. Now we must click on the “Compatibility” tab and display the “Compatibility mode” section. Here we must select the “Run this program in compatibility mode for” box and we will select a previous version of Windows that will appear in the drop-down menu. Finally, click on “Apply” and “OK” to save the changes.
