Dark/dim screen - what's up?

[gratefulhoo]

Suddenly the other day (after having done MS updates), my screen went almost black. I could barely see that my file was still open through the darkness. I shut the whole thing off, and rebooted. The screen wasn't black but was dimmer than it has ever been. It also seems a little less clear. I checked color, contrast, and resolution settings, and all were as they always have been. Thoughts?

[theMediaman]

It's usually driven by a hardware issue rather than a software issue (possibly a broken video cable or dying electron gun).

Just to be sure, plug the monitor into another computer. That's the quickest way to know for sure. If it's fine on the other computer, then it is likely something that happened as a result of Windows Update.