I'm having one hell of a duh moment (more like an hour!) here and it's
driving me bonkers. I am setting up a PC using an Acer AL1716 LCD
Monitor. I have been able to get the resolution set at 1024x768 AFTER
the user logs in but prior to that, the screen is at 1280 by something
and I have to plug in an old CRT monitor before I can see the darn
screen. There must be a setting I can change in xorg.conf or somewhere
I can edit to get the login screen set at 1024x768. Can anyone help a
poor fellow out? :)

I answered my own question. I was thinking too hard. I fixed it by going to

System / Administration / Screens & Graphics

and found it from there. Hope this helps someone else!