A new monitor purchase isn’t something that happens often. It’s likely you’re going through multiple PCs for each monitor rather than the other way around. So, if you’ve just bought your first new monitor in a few years, it’s easy to forget the things you should do out of the box.

Before you just sit down with your monitor and start using it, consider doing some of these basic post-purchase setup steps. It might save you a few head- (and neck-) aches down the line.

Adjust the Stand Correctly

Many cheaper monitors these days don’t have a stand where you can adjust the height of the screen, but setting your monitor to the correct height is essential for your health and comfort. Ultimately, it’s all about posture, and you want to have your monitor set up in such a way that you can sit up straight and use it comfortably.

The rule of thumb used to be that the top of the monitor should be at or slightly below eye-level when you’re sitting straight, and this should let you see everything on-screen without having to til your head up or down much. These days, however, with the increase in monitor sizes and the having to sit farther away from our screens as a result, it’s a little different.

I find setting my monitor’s height so that my eye level is about a quarter of the distance below the top of the screen works best. Remember, the idea is to prevent your neck from working too much, and you don’t want to be looking up or down at an uncomfortable angle.

If your monitor does not have a height-adjustable stand, you can purchase a monitor riser or, if your screen has the right VESA mounting points, a monitor arm.

Check for Dead or Stuck Pixels

A dead pixel is a pixel on a flat-panel display that’s permanently dark. A stuck pixel is a pixel that won’t change its state. So it might be stuck on bright white, or permanently show a blue dot.

While dead pixels are rare in modern flat-panel displays, they still happen, and this is a defect in the manufacturing process of the monitor. The reason you should immediately check if your monitor has dead or stuck pixels after purchase has to do with your return options. Most retailers will let you return something for any reason at all within a few days of purchase, but beyond that window of opportunity it becomes a warranty issue.

Different screen manufacturers have different dead pixel policies, but most of them won’t consider dead pixels a defect at all unless you have more than a certain number of them, or they are in a position near the center of the screen. Premium screen makers have a zero-tolerance attitude towards dead pixels and will always replace the screen if they are present, but it’s best not to have to walk that path.

All you have to do is use a pixel-checking tool such as Dead Pixel Test. Open the site in your browser and make it full screen. Then run the screen through the black, white, red, green, etc. test screens and carefully check if any pixels stay black, or are stuck on a color. If you find dead pixels, and you can return the screen easily, I suggest you do it. This test only takes a minute or two, so it’s well worth it.

Don’t Use the Default Settings

Every monitor has a default setting (which you can restore if you mess things up) but it’s rarely the right setup for the needs of the person who bought the monitor. In fact, in many cases, the default setting for a monitor makes it look good in a computer store under those harsh store lights, but it’s probably too bright and has the wrong color temperature when placed on your desk.

So take the time to adjust the monitor so that it looks good for your needs, and the space where it’s meant to work. I don’t necessarily mean that you need to calibrate the monitor. However, if you’re going to use the monitor to create content that relies on color accuracy, you should also get an external monitor calibration tool and use it to dial in your screen’s color.

For everyone else, using the Windows color-calibration tool or the macOS Display Calibrator Assistant is more than good enough. It just takes a minute or two, and your screen’s color and brightness will be calibrated to what your eyes should be seeing.

Make Sure You Pick the Right Port

Most decent modern monitors will offer multiple display input ports, which means you often have a choice when it comes to connecting your computer to them. However, you should make sure you use the connection that gives you the best results. For example, most of the time, DisplayPort will give you the highest resolution and refresh rate options. In some cases, technologies like Gsync will only work via DisplayPort, depending on the type of Gsync and the generation of DP and HDMI ports on a specific monitor. If your monitor has older port standards like DVI or (gasp!) VGA, you’ll want to avoid them most of the time, even if your computer somehow has the same ports.

Likewise, if you have an HDR monitor and want to make use of that feature, not every port on the monitor may support it. So do a little bit of research on the ports that came on your monitor, and which one is the best option for you.

Remember to Set the Correct Resolution and Refresh Rate

Most of the time, modern operating systems will correctly get the right resolution and refresh rate from the monitor, and adjust things accordingly. However, this is absolutely something you should manually check after first setting up your screen, and you should check it periodically in case it gets accidentally changed.

I’ve read plenty of stores where, for example, someone purchases a 120Hz or 240Hz monitor, and then can’t see any difference compared to their old 60Hz monitor. Then it turns out the new monitor was set to 60Hz the whole time!

While you can go digging around your OS display settings to check your current settings, most monitors have a status or info option in their menus that will show you the resolution and refresh rate that’s currently active.

In some cases, you may find that you can’t set your screen to its native resolution or refresh rate. This is almost always because the cable or adapter you’re using doesn’t support the amount of data needed. For example, most cheap HDMI adapters will only run my ultrawide monitor at 60Hz, rather than the 144Hz it’s capable of.

Turn On Special Features Like Adaptive Sync or Black Frame Insertion

Many monitors, especially mid-range to high-end models, have some cool features that can improve performance or image quality. However, if you never turn them on and try them, you’ll never benefit from the features you paid for!

Common ones are adaptive sync technologies like NVIDIA Gsync or AMD Freesync, which need to be switched on in the monitor settings before you can activate them in your graphics driver settings. Then there’s Black Frame Insertion, which usually can’t be on at the same time as adaptive sync, but does offer a big improvement in motion clarity at the cost of brightness.

You may also see options to reduce latency, but as you choose options with lower latency, you may get degradation in image quality. So you’ll have to play around to find the right balance for your needs.

With this basic checklist behind you, now you should have your monitor locked and loaded for spreadsheets, video games, or video games that are really spreadsheets. I’m looking at you EVE Online.