Q: This box keeps popping up on my screen that says ‘Luminance’ with some symbols inside the box. After about a second, it goes off and another box pops up with ‘Brightness’ and ‘Contrast’ with a percentage bar in blue under each. Then it goes off.

Five minutes later it starts all over again. It’s really bothersome because it’s right in the middle of the screen. I can’t close it out because my mouse arrow goes under the box. Should I call someone? Is my monitor broken? It’s not even two years old! Help me please!

A: The problem lies with your monitor, unfortunately. I can sympathize, as mine does the same thing. Monitor manufacturers use really cheap buttons for adjusting the monitor’s brightness, contrast, color, and other settings. The buttons turn on and off by themselves.

And when they turn on, your monitor drops a menu onto the screen, right over the top of Windows. That’s why your mouse and keyboard have no effect on them. You can only control the menu through those finicky buttons on the monitor.

I removed my monitor’s case and stuck a guitar pick in front of the circuit board. The guitar pick bends the circuits just enough so the buttons don’t flip on quite as often. It’s not a perfect fix, but it’ll let me get a few more months out of my monitor. (Monitors are cheaper to buy new than repair.)

Eventually, I’ll get frustrated enough to buy a new one and cure the problem, once and for all.

But until you buy a new monitor, you’re stuck with those awful menus.