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General discussion

dual monitor tips and utilities?

Jul 14, 2006 10:51AM PDT

I tried a dual monitor setup for several days when my company donated 3 older CRT monitors.

I played around with:
ATI 128MB Radeon 9800 Pro
Dell UltraSharp 18.1'' LCD monitor (no pivot mode)
some 17'' Compaq CRT monitor

I don't have this setup anymore since. My deskspace barely has enough for these 2 monitors, my PC tower, and misc stuff like speakers which also meant i couldn't really see the TV with it the extra one there, but I might reconfigure the setup later on.

In the meantime, any1 have tips or utilities to share for dual monitor users?

Tips like how to seperate 2 opened Excel files into 2 entries on the taskbar so I can put 'em side by side across the monitors.

And utilities/software/games like MinMaxExtender which is actually for single monitors but deals with window functionality like ''always on top'', ''vertical max'', etc.?) or fun stuff like Particle Fire 2 (screen saver with dual monitor support)

I keep work stuff at work, so this PC is mostly used for PC games, surfing, and and multimedia. I actually tried using the 2nd monitor to surf while watching TV shows/movies (on DVD) or while a slow/lagging PC game was loading up. It was pretty neat.

Discussion is locked

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Google Desktop
Jul 14, 2006 11:53AM PDT

I have a 17" flat screen that came with my new(er) system and I kept the 17" bulky monitor from my old system to create a dual-monitor system. I put my Google Desktop panels on my older monitor so that I can easily keep track of new messages, news stories (I am a TV producer). I also keep my AIM and Yahoo IM windows on my secondary monitor.

When I need to compare documents (such as the Excel example) I open two instances of the program and put one on the secondary monitor.

I could never go back to a single monitor. This setup is great for multitasking! Wink

I'd love to hear how other people use their dual monitors.

I also have a question: my newer system came with a TV tuner card, but it only has one monitor output. Is there any way to use the tuner card with my dual-monitor video card?

-Josh

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dual monitor programs and set-up
Jul 16, 2006 1:18PM PDT

I use 2 Samsung 213T monitors on a Radeon 1600. It really helps to have 2 monitors the same size for applications that spread across the desktop.

The dual monitor set-up can be done in a couple ways. I purchased a card that would support 2 monitors (there are several cards that support 2+ monitors). This can also be done with one AGP/PCI express card and a second PCI card. In the case of TV tuner cards, they typically will require a second card for a dual monitor set-up.

I use a program call UltraMon. This gives a task bar for each monitor, a button to send a window to the other monitor, a button to expand a window to the desktop, wallpaper tools, monitor set-up tools and other goodies. It is a real handy, reliable program. It has a trail version for free and is registered for a price.

I originally used the set-up for generating reports based on spreadsheats. It worked very well to have the document on one screen and the graphs/calculations on the other. Excel, other MS office programs and any general program require two instances, one for each monitor. It is also really good for web surfing, IM, video chat and movie playback. You can keep the windows separate and readable.

I have noticed that with dual monitors I can overload the processor much easier due to the extra tasks. I use my machine for audio recording and encoding, music playback, and games at the same time. I would recommend a robust processor or extra memory with a dual monitor set-up to avoid too much lag.

For dual screen wallpapers see digitalblasphemy.com. There is a whole collection for dual and triple screen computers.