Multiple Monitor Tips and Tricks!

Tagged: Windows

Again, this is an incomplete recipe, since its always ongoing! hehe.. seamonkey420’s multiple monitor tricks/tips. Prerequisites: none, except for having multiple monitors setup.

Seamonkey420’s Multiple Monitor Tips/Tricks:
here are a few tips that i’ve learned through the years while working with multiple monitor setups.

NEW : Using Secondary Monitor for Remote Desktop Session
Another thing that i use a lot and totally forgot to add here was this! If you run xp on all your machines or2000, just enable the option to Allow Users to Connect Remotely in My Computer > Properties > Remote.
Be sure your account on the pc you want to be able to remote into has this setup and also be sure the account has a password associated with the user.

Then you can have the functionality of two pcs, minus the 2nd pc! :-)
if you run 3 monitors, 3 pcs!
And be sure to have the pcs on a network…

Then just open up the remote desktop client in xp prof. Just go to: Start Menu > Programs > Accessories > Communications > Remote Desktop Connection.

Now if all your pcs on the same workgroup/network, just type in the pc you want to control’s name (can be found in : My Computer > Properties > Computer Name)

Note: you can change a few things in the advanced menu of remote desktop connection such as allowing access to hard drives/printers/etc… leaving the sound at the computer or even bringing the sound to your pc (i do this at work, hehe.. easier than shoutcastin!!), and screen size and more…

1. Cool Winamp Visualizations/Showing Off!
My favorite thing to do to show off my multiple monitors is with Winamp. Make sure you have the AVS visualization installed with winamp. This also requires that your video card able to display overlays.

-Move winamp and the visualization window to the secondary monitor.
-Go into the AVS settings by right-clicking and chosing AVS Editor.
-the AVS Editor box will popup, go to Settings > Display.
-On the right side, there are two options:
Overlay Mode
Set Color To desktop

Check the Overlay Mode box.

Once you do this, your desktop for the Primary monitor should be alive with the winamp visualization. Very cool for parties!!!

2. Photoshop Tips:
I’d recommend doing this for photoshop editing.
Move all of the toolbars and menus to one monitor, usually your secondary. And Resize the Image window to be full size on the Primary Monitor and voila! no toolbars in your way and more photo-estate to work with!

3. Using Ultramon http://www.realtimesoft.com/ultramon
This is an AMAZING program for managing windows and taskbars with multiple monitor configurations.
The Smart Taskbar function is awesome, it gives each monitor its own taskbar. Also, it will save your icon positions (this annoyed me much so when rebooting and my icons would be all messed up after spending like 5 mins rearranging them prior to reboot)

Also, I’d recommend setting up hotkeys to send windows to other monitors. New Nvidia cards have the nview program which is similar to ultramon, management of multiple monitors.

Another cool item they have is the Ultramon screensaver. This will let you run seperate screen savers on each monitor. I have the matrix code on one and a mpg of a campfire on the other!

4. Switching back to Clone Mode
Ok, so you’ve gotten your multiple monitor setup configured and working so you have two seperate desktops, but now you want to go back to one desktop but have it displayed on two monitors.

To do this, first.
If you have an ATI based card, just unclick the Extend Desktop on this monitor option in Display Properties > Settings.
Reboot your pc, but leave the monitor plugged in.
Once back up, your 2nd monitor might come alive with a ‘cloned’ image of whats on monitor 1. If so, your good to go.

If not, you might need to go into: Display Properties > Settings > Advanced Settings (for primary monitor).

Then go to the Display Tabs and see if the monitor is enabled and in clone mode.

Nvidia cards are similar in this respect.
In clone mode, if you watch a movie, it should show the Movie Fullscreen on the cloned monitor. If not, you will need to go into your Display Properties > Settings > Advanced Settings and check for an option, Full Screen Overlay or perhaps an option in the Clone Mode (ATI cards) or Overlays (Nvidia cards).

5. General Windows / Office Multi Monitor Tips

-Most are not aware but it is true, that you can drag and drop application/documents to applications.
IE. On one monitor i have windows explorer opened to My Documents folder. On the other monitor i have Photoshop opened. I can just drag my images over to Photoshop and it will open them instantly. Great for when you have to work with a lot of files.

Thats about all for now!
Guess this was a popular recipe/topic. Hope these help!

seamonkey420
“knowledge is power, spread the power”