Added Vizio 24" LCD monitor - Can't change resolution - Need help!

Ok, here we go! First off, new to the forum - looks like a great place to be.

Have a Dell Inspiron 531s, and it came with a Dell 17" rectangular monitor, connected by USB. After changing the OS from Vista to XP Pro, I've now upgraded to Windows 7 Home Premium, so I though ti would be great to add a new wide screen monitor. I looked at the Dell offerings, the the model I use at work is a 24", and the price is $270. Looking around at WalMart, and I noticed a Vizio 24" LCD TV was selling for $148. Looking at the box, it states it is PC compatible. Great - $270 vs. $148 - I'll bite!

The only means of connecting from my Inspiron to the Vizio is via a VGA cable (HDMI would have been nice). The idea of going to the wide screen was to allow either split screen or two windows side-by-side, but that's not working out. Seems as though I can't adjust the resolution. The Vizio is identifed as a generic PnP monitor with 1360 x 768 DPI and 60 Hertz refresh. I though perhaps my graphics driver just needed to be updated. The graphics card is a NVIDIA GeForce 6150SE nForce 430, version 5.61.32.25.2.

The big question - can I change the resolution? Right now the icons and print are at about 125%. Please keep the tips simple, because I know enough to be dangerous! Thanks much! Rich

Thanks for the input - appreciated! First of all, it's a 23" LED, and the resolution is 1366 x 768 at 60 htz max. I did notice that there is one USB 2.0 port - can I hook-up the TV the same as I had the LCD monitor? That was via USB. Anyway - looks like I'm maxed out. Might just have to make this a spare TV and go with a better PC monitor. Thanks much! Rich