Hi all - I have been using Linux mint for several years quite happily. Yesterday my four year old was pounding on the keyboard and now the desktop is too big to fit the monitor and when we move the mouse the whole desktop scrolls around the display. Using the computer now is untenable, and the worst part is none of the settings seem to resolve the problem. Not knowing what was toggled we are at a loss to change it back, and the setting remained after a reboot.

I have searched the network, and a few forums but it is hard to find the information when I'm at a loss at framing the question in a concise way.

Thanks for any feedback.

you know at this point you may want to create another user login as that user. Then add that user to sudo. and then if it is all working fine look at see what has changed between the two. it very hard to fix stuff when your sudo user is broken. It nice to assume root and go fix stuff. But again that option to login as root to fix stuff may not happen for you.

Perhaps the display was magnified by holding down Ctrl and numeric keypad +. Does using Ctrl and numeric keypad - reduce the size of the display?

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Linuxmint 15 has been unsupported for over a year & a half. You may as well backup important docs & reinstall.

Reinstall what? Mint 15 is obsolete indeed and no longer supported and maintained.
So, now reinstall but a new install!


Backup your stuff and do a fresh, new, clean install of Mint 17.2 or Mint 13 which is still maintained and supported.

Depending on your system specification:
For old, low-spec/low-memory systems use Mint 13
For newer systems use Mint 17.2

Download page: http://www.linuxmint.com/download_all.php

Scroll wheel mouse? If so, hold down the Alt key and scroll the mouse wheel "down" on the desktop.

You can use xrandr to adjust the monitor resolution. I had a problem like that when etracer would crash. It changes your screen resolution and doesn't change it back when it ends poorly.

$ xrandr
should list your display names, available options, current (*) setting.

$ xrandr --output HDMI1 --mode 1280x720 --panning 1920x1080
windowed with virtual desktop of a larger size.

$ xrandr --output HDMI1 --mode 1920x1080 --panning 1920x1080
what many of us call a normal desktop.

You could also drop to a root shell prompt, remove the current DE and than Re-install the desktop envirnment of your choice.
If it's not in your Software Center look in Synaptic.

Here's Cinnamon and Mate-

https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/cinnamon/
http://wiki.mate-desktop.org/download

@mkimball.cma,
first of all you should bring your desktop back to normal size.

when you just hold your mouse against a screen edge, does the screen then "move" in that direction?
this way you should be able to find your menu, and, most probably from "Settings", something called "Monitor Settings" or similar.
There you have to apply a resolution that works.

Sometimes this can also be achieved by right-clicking the desktop => properties (or sth similar).

As mentioned, It is likely that an alternate display mode has been selected.

You can try "ctrl-alt-" combinations: hold ctrl and alt keys down, press + (or minus) to go to the next available selection.

Just a quick thanks to all who took the time to reply to me. I took the advice that the distro was old and unsupported, and deployed a fresh distro of Mint 17.2 - upgraded the computer at the same time.