How do I calibrate my monitors in Windows?

Windows offers calibration tools that let you adjust your monitor's and graphics card's settings for better visual display.  It can help adjust gamma, brightness, contrast, gray balance, and font clarity.  Adjustments are made within the computer's settings and, optionally, in the monitor's settings (using the monitor's controls). 

Before discussing Windows' built-in calibration tool, if you're using a monitor with HDR enabled, you'll want to instead use the HDR Calibration tool found in the Microsoft Store.  Follow the instructions in the app to complete the calibration for HDR-enabled monitors.

To use the built-in calibration tool in Windows 10 or 11 (and perhaps in other Windows versions), click the Start button and begin typing calibrate, and select the option to start the Calibrate display color wizard. Once it starts, move the calibration window to the screen you want to calibrate, then follow the steps it provides. The calibration is done one monitor at a time, so if you have multiple monitors, you'll want to run it for each monitor you wish to calibrate.  Note that if you upgrade your graphics drivers or make other fundamental changes to your display settings, you may need to run through the calibrations again. 

Notes:

You'll likely find that you'll find the most impact by adjusting just the gamma once you have your monitor's hardware adjusted the first time through the wizard. 

You may also find it useful to have one of your most-used programs' display (such as a trading chart) when you adjust the gamma settings, so you can see how the changes you're making affect the chart display.  While the wizard expands to full screen, you can still shrink it to partial screen size in order to see the gamma adjustment control and a chart at the same time.

If you find that you can't get a good gamma adjustment where the dot disappears in the middle of the circle, you may need to see if your monitor has any gamma adjustments that need changing as part of its own controls.  Try different gamma settings, if needed, then try sliding the control to see if it can create the desired visual effect.