how do i calibrate my monitor?

[Conor]

as stated in teh subject.

i want to make sure my colors and brightness isnt thrown off by an overly bright monitor

[Jesper]

Start here to learn about color management and calibrating your monitor, scanner, printer etc.: http://www.normankoren.com/color_management.html

[scottbergerphoto]

Conor wrote:
as stated in teh subject.

i want to make sure my colors and brightness isnt thrown off by an overly bright monitor

You can start with the Adobe Gamma program located in WindowsXP control panel that is supplied with Photoshop or Elements 2.0. If you are more adventureous you can use a hardware profiler such as Spyder with Optical/Photocal or Monaco EZ Color, or Gretag Macbeth. In terms of monitor Brightness there are two schools on this. Spyder/Optical recommends setting your CRT to 6500K using your monitor controls. Others use the D50 standard and set their monitor to 5,000K. I use the Spyder/Optical with my monitor set at 6500K. I use the Epson ICC profiles for my Epson 2200. My prints look virtually idenical to the monitor.
Scott