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11 Replies Last post: Feb 9, 2009 6:50 AM by charles849  
Click to view PCWorld's profile PCW News Bot 35,856 posts since
Aug 1, 2007
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Sep 2, 2008 10:31 AM

Dual Monitors, the Only Way to Go

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Click to view charles849's profile Member 120 posts since
Feb 5, 2007
1. Sep 3, 2008 6:15 AM in response to: PCWorld
Re: Dual Monitors, the Only Way to Go
as usual I'll be the last on to do this


Mainboard : Unspecified P4VM800 Chipset : VIA PM880 Processor : Intel Pentium 4 @ 2400 MHz Physical Memory : 2048 MB (2 x 1024 DDR-SDRAM ) Video Card : RADEON 9200 PRO Family (Microsoft Corporation) Hard Disk : Maxtor (41 GB) Hard Disk : ST325031 (250 GB) CD-Rom Drive : HL-DT-ST CD-RW GCE-8527B DVD-Rom Drive : TSSTcorp CDW/DVD TS-H492C Monitor Type : Acer AL1702W - 17 inches Network Card : VT82C570 MV IDE Controller VT6102 Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter Operating System : Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.01.2600 Service Pack 3
Click to view JimH443's profile Enthusiast 770 posts since
May 6, 2007
2. Sep 3, 2008 6:38 AM in response to: charles849
Re: Dual Monitors, the Only Way to Go
Nah, you'll be using dual monitors years before I will. :)
Click to view louie2's profile New Member 2 posts since
Feb 11, 2008
3. Sep 3, 2008 7:03 AM in response to: PCWorld
Re: Dual Monitors, the Only Way to Go
Dual monitors are addictive.Caution, it's hard to go back once you've tried 2. I receive @ 20 emails a day and about 2/3rds have links which open on the "other moniter" while I read on.I have 2 dual monitor setups;one with paid for UltraMon and one free version Multimon Taskbar by mediachance.com.I like the free Multimon and find it does all I want for free...
Click to view JimH443's profile Enthusiast 770 posts since
May 6, 2007
4. Sep 3, 2008 7:37 AM in response to: louie2
Re: Dual Monitors, the Only Way to Go
The only way I'd even consider more than one monitor is if games such as WoW fully supported it by allowing them to look in two directions at once. I.E., allowing the second monitor to be a constant "rear view mirror" if desired.
Click to view JoHerrer's profile New Member 2 posts since
Apr 25, 2007
5. Sep 3, 2008 9:04 AM in response to: PCWorld
Re: Dual Monitors, the Only Way to Go

I´ve been using two monitors since an ancient SB article.

I added a LCD 22" monitor to my old 17" CRT, but had to change MB and video card accepting that config.

In my office Lenovo, I only had to connect a second monitor and voilà....

How can anyone work with a single monitor????

Click to view chuen00's profile New Member 1 posts since
May 2, 2007
6. Sep 3, 2008 9:08 AM in response to: PCWorld
Re: Dual Monitors, the Only Way to Go
When I clicked on World of Timers, my AVG blocked it. Can anyone tell me why?
Click to view bsstp69's profile New Member 1 posts since
Sep 3, 2008
7. Sep 3, 2008 9:18 AM in response to: PCWorld
Re: Dual Monitors, the Only Way to Go
IT HAS A WORM. MY AVG DID THE SAME THING.
Click to view JimH443's profile Enthusiast 770 posts since
May 6, 2007
8. Sep 3, 2008 12:49 PM in response to: chuen00
Re: Dual Monitors, the Only Way to Go
My ZoneLab reported it involved rivatos.net/tds (I went to a cached version of the article)
Click to view blutom's profile New Member 1 posts since
Jul 23, 2007
9. Sep 4, 2008 3:53 PM in response to: PCWorld
Re: Dual Monitors, the Only Way to Go
i was thinking about this and i found this article here, isnt it amazing? Great articles all the way MR.Steve Bass
Click to view dlauber's profile New Member 40 posts since
Aug 29, 2006
10. Sep 8, 2008 9:06 AM in response to: PCWorld
Re: Dual Monitors, the Only Way to Go
There's a cost-free alternative to dual monitors if you've got an ATI video card. While we've been using dual monitors for years -- a great productivity tool -- we also configure our video card to give us "pan and scan virtual monitors" where the actual desktop is 3 to 4 times greater than what you can see on your screen at any one time. Move your cursor to the right edge of the screen or bottom and the screen moves to reveal more screen real estate. With this feature you can open word processing files, spreadsheets, desktop publishing file, etc. full size and rarely need to use scroll bars. You can also easily have more than one application open and viewable at a time.

You can sometimes achieve this with any video card by going into Display Properties | Settings | Advanced | Monitor and unchecking "Hide modes that this monitor cannot display." Then set your resolution to something like 1600 x 1200 and you might get the pan and scan virtual desktop -- no guarantees.

Here's a step by step guide:

First check to see if your Display Properties | Settings will let you set your go into your screen resolution to, say, 1600 x 1200. If it doesn't go that high (and if your monitor is smaller than 20.1", it probably doesn't go that high), go into Display Properties | Settings | Advanced | Monitor and uncheck "Hide modes that this monitor cannot display." This will allow higher resolutions to appear. If this choice is grayed out, you may be screwed. Change your resolution for both monitors to something like 1600 x 1200, but don't exit out of Display Properties just yet.

Then you open ATI's Catalyst Control Center (CCC, for short - kind of reminds me of the Great Depression's Civilian Conservation Corps). Choose the Advanced mode rather than Basic. Go to the "Monitor Properties 0" and uncheck "Use Extended Display Identificaiton Data (EDID) or driver defaults." Then change the maximum resultion to 800x600 and the maximu refresh ratee to 60 Hz (assuming you use LCD monitors). Click on "apply". Do the same with Monitor Properties 1".

Now sometimes this doesn't quite get you the pan and scan virtual desktop -- instead you get a 800x600 desktop. Panic, not. Simply go back to your Display Properties windows and change the resolution for both monitors to 1600 x 1200. Click "Okay" and you should have a pan and scan virtual desktop on both monitors. You can, of course, change the resolution combinations to fit your personal preferences. Sometimes you have to fool around a bit to a combination that pleases you.
Click to view charles849's profile Member 120 posts since
Feb 5, 2007
11. Feb 9, 2009 6:50 AM in response to: charles849
Re: Dual Monitors, the Only Way to Go
ok I lied it wasnt as hard as I thought it would be an $8 adapter was all I was missing, oh and some room on my desk. I had an old 15 LCD monitor in the closet my local PC store is a block away .I think it only took 2 hours to get up and running. Now DVI and VGA make sense to me .


Mainboard : Unspecified P4VM800 Chipset : VIA PM880 Processor : Intel Pentium 4 @ 2400 MHz Physical Memory : 2048 MB (2 x 1024 DDR-SDRAM ) Video Card : RADEON 9200 PRO Family (Microsoft Corporation) Hard Disk : Maxtor (41 GB) Hard Disk : ST325031 (250 GB) CD-Rom Drive : HL-DT-ST CD-RW GCE-8527B DVD-Rom Drive : TSSTcorp CDW/DVD TS-H492C Monitor Type : Acer AL1702W - 17 inches Network Card : VT82C570 MV IDE Controller VT6102 Rhine II Fast Ethernet Adapter Operating System : Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.01.2600 Service Pack 3

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