If you've got a greyscale pattern (a chart of grey squares, going from black to white), then you can bring down the contrast and brightness until the pattern looks similiar to on-screen. Once you've done that, alter the individual RGB settings until the colours match roughly with your print (keep a check on the greyscale too, to make sure the brightness doesn't need re-adjusting).

The result is a monitor that sort of matches your prints (or at least one of them!). The biggest flaw of this method is that it is based on a number of environmental factors such as the ambient light falling onto your screen, and the accuracy of your eyesight. In other words, it's not all that accurate. Factor in that monitors are not always that linear in the displaying of colours (particularly older ones), and you might be removing colour casts from one area and adding them in another. If you've gone to the trouble of getting a printer profile, we would recommend doing something more accurate...

• Using software calibration. Unfortunately there's not much out there apart from Adobe Gamma and a utility called QuickGamma.