Encountering this on a newly reformatted windows 7 PC.

Friends,
I've discovered just now, this scrabble game that I play, when it is in windowed mode, it's also affected by the wavy lines/distortions, but when I set it to full screen mode, it displays clearly!

is it safe to conclude that this problem of mine is software-related?

Thanks again Maguscreed and the others who helped, I forgot to +rep you.

Tuneup 2012 - I have already uninstalled it, rebooted my pc, yet the monitor's still the same. Before (Tuneup 2011) I used to disable hibernation, frequently remove system restore points, but I don't recall encountering problems.

In the AMD Catalyst settings, you could see there the resolutions, settings, etc. I thought that was conflicting with my pc's resolution, I removed it but it didn't make a difference so I placed it back again.

Am I running out of hope?

You might try other recent drivers for the video card as well to see what happens, in addition to the monitor driver. Have you checked optional Windows Updates for newer drivers?

Since there's no way to undo the tweaks done by the tweaking suite, I would see if you have a System Restore point before you did them and use it now. If not, I personally would clean reinstall as the Repair Install will not roll back all settings.

Following the basic outline in Clean Reinstall Windows 7 Factory OEM to get a perfect reinstall will give you a baseline to work from that rules out the installation as problem. I would especially not change out any drivers given by installer and quickly updated by optional Windows Updates - only import those missing after several rounds of Updates. Then you can update your Display adapter if it is Standard VGA and still has the problem. Trying various Display adapters would be the first troubleshooting step with a baseline perfect reinstall.

friends,
while still on my current OS I tried to replace video card with my old 9400gt 512mb ddr2 (which while weaker, consumes more power).
The lines weren't that noticeable. now I can't find where i put my win7 installer, I decided to settle with Vista 32bit home premium.

This is what I'm using now, and the only programs that I installed are Microsoft Security Essentials + audio drivers, + amd drivers, ultraiso,winrar, + my games.
The lines still appear, although it seems that they have reduced. (still I'm observing it)
One thing that I have observed though, is that when I right click AMD Catalyst, it shows 2 Radeon HD 6570's, one is for the main display and another one is for the extended display, which I don't have... here:





Thanks a lot.hope you understand my post..

Vista?

The WIn7 installer downloads are in the Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 link I posted above. Too bad you didn't read it.

This time wait to see what drivers Windows Update provides to see if there is a video driver preferred by Win7 without the CCC bloatware that causes all kinds of problems. If not import only the driver and not the software package.

friends,
The problem I have been encountering seems to stem from either my video card or my monitor. running at 1440x900 seems to get worse by the day, because now even games I play are affected.
I tried lowering the resolution to 1280x1024, 1280x768, using ati catalyst and although the resolution became uglier (since 1440x900 is the native resolution), the lines that were appearing were significantly reduced, if not gone.

Now I'm on 1366x768 resolution, and no lines/very minimal lines so far.

To be really honest, my current OS, vista home premium 32bit, is a legit copy, while my previous windows 7 isn't..
So now I'm going to save up for a 7 64bit ultimate. (a legit one)

This problem was also a blessing in disguise since I was informed that programs like Tuneup Utilities conflict with Windows 7. I'd now use CCCleaner. Thanks a lot.