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treich
join:2006-12-12

treich

Member

[WIN7] dual monitors with desktops on it?

Guys
I have an hp computer (old one) and I just bought an dual vga pci video card for it and I like to know how do I get desktops on both monitors without having one monitor just having the start up task bar and other monitor having all my desktop icons? Because I would like to have both monitors have same icons and task bars on it.
BlitzenZeus
Burnt Out Cynic
Premium Member
join:2000-01-13

BlitzenZeus

Premium Member

It can't be done with Win 7 unless you want to clone, but that defeats the point of having two monitors to expand your desktop space. There's 3rd party programs, but they are not free that can give you another start menu on the other screen.

Win 8 will put a taskbar on both monitors with the start button so you can launch from both monitors there, but desktop icons stay where you put them. I haven't even used desktop icons for years. Pinned apps only show on one monitor, and I haven't found that to be a problem.

Stop using desktop icons, and it won't be a problem.
bkjohnson
Premium Member
join:2002-05-22
Birmingham, AL

bkjohnson to treich

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to treich
Take a look at Ultramon software. It allows a lot of flexibility with dual monitors. »www.realtimesoft.com/ultramon/
LLigetfa
join:2006-05-15
Fort Frances, ON

LLigetfa to treich

Member

to treich
said by treich:

Because I would like to have both monitors have same icons and task bars on it.

That is called Clone. Most folk want to extend their desktop to have separate side-by-side displays, not have the same on both.

CompUser
join:2001-11-07
Ada, OH

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I use Ultramon myself. Love it!
dave
Premium Member
join:2000-05-04
not in ohio

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to treich
Can you clarify? You talk about 'same icons' but what about running programs?

If you open up an application, do you want it to be displayed in its entirety on two monitors (i.e., both monitors show exactly the same thing)?

If so, then 'clone' sounds exactly like what you want.

If not, then you're not going to get 'same icons' and 'different open programs'.
Frodo
join:2006-05-05

Frodo to treich

Member

to treich
It sounds like something discussed here. Actual Multiple Monitors
»www.actualtools.com/arti ··· ?ID=1315
It looks like 24.95 with a free trial period. Not having used this software, I'm not vouching for it. But, I suppose you could search on it and see what the consensus is, or try it out and fill us in.
Mele20
Premium Member
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI

Mele20

Premium Member

That article is about Windows 8. The OP is asking about Windows 7. That article is not very accurate either. On Win 8, your video card will determine the function of multiple monitors. I have three monitors all showing Start Menu (Start 8) and full taskbar. I recently switched the oldest monitor back to my XP Pro machine so currently I have two monitors cloned.

If you don't clone them then you have a horrible problem of the mouse getting lost as it will run off all sides and completely disappear. That won't happen if you clone them. Not everyone wants expanded space. I wanted to be able to sit on my couch and use the Samsung which is a 46" HD TV as my monitor instead of sitting at the computer desk and using the new 24" monitor.
BlitzenZeus
Burnt Out Cynic
Premium Member
join:2000-01-13

BlitzenZeus

Premium Member

Click for full size
The mouse cursor doesn't just disappear, but if you have the tv as a monitor, however it's off, otherwise on another input then that you're fault if it goes off the screen. Also the mouse doesn't just get lost on it's own, it's completely under your control, remember that. Your excuses remind me of this scene.

It is hard to use a monitor, and a tv at the same time from two different locations so cloning is fine for you, just not most people.

sivran
Vive Vivaldi
Premium Member
join:2003-09-15
Irving, TX

sivran to Frodo

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to Frodo
said by Site Frodo linked :
Secondary taskbar is very important feature for most users working with two or more monitors.
That's news to me. I've been using dual monitors for years and never even wanted a taskbar on both. There was a time when I dabbled with running two bbleanbars (using bbLean, a version of BlackBox 4 Windows), one on each monitor. I eventually decided the second one wasn't doing me any good, and deleted it.

I also didn't know Win 8 could do this natively. Not that I care anyway.

Anyway, I learned early on that Windows prefers the left monitor to be primary. At least XP did. Windows 8 keeps things sorted just fine, but I run UltraMon anyway for keyboard shortcuts and wallpaper management.
dave
Premium Member
join:2000-05-04
not in ohio

dave

Premium Member

News to me, too.

Not only have I 'never wanted' a task bar on two monitors, but when I had to use a system set up that way (dual-monitor was done in the HW vendor's driver, so Windows thought it only had one very wide display) I found it unpleasant.

The reason for that is simple: the task bar is where I interact with the OS (rather than with apps) and I don't want it to be 3 or 4 feet wide, since that's wider than I can comfortably focus on. And I don't want to look in two places for a button.

But maybe Windows 8 is different in some way I don't know about (I don't use it).

As regards which is primary: Windows 7 certainly lets you rearrange how you wish: primary can be left, right, top, bottom. I think I remember XP doing the same, but I have no way to check.
Frodo
join:2006-05-05

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to sivran
said by sivran:

That's news to me.

News to me too, but appears to be the feature that the OP wants.
Happydude32
Premium Member
join:2005-07-16

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to Frodo
Yes, with WIN8 you can have the Task Bar on multiple displays, also you can have each display have it's own wallpaper.
BlitzenZeus
Burnt Out Cynic
Premium Member
join:2000-01-13

BlitzenZeus

Premium Member

A small, but necessary change was putting spanning wallpaper at the left most monitor, and not just starting it at the primary monitor in Win 8. Even linux distros were doing this, but in Win 7 and earlier you had to use a program to edit the wallpaper to show correctly with the primary monitor offset.

Having a start button on each monitor can be useful to some if the primary monitor is running a fullscreen app, but things like the pinned apps don't carry over to the second taskbar.
LLigetfa
join:2006-05-15
Fort Frances, ON

LLigetfa to dave

Member

to dave
said by dave:

News to me, too.

Not only have I 'never wanted' a task bar on two monitors, but when I had to use a system set up that way (dual-monitor was done in the HW vendor's driver, so Windows thought it only had one very wide display) I found it unpleasant.

Provided the two displays are a matched pair and side-by-side, I like having the taskbar span both displays. I often have so many windows open that they start to stack and/or get so small that the titles are obscured. For that reason I increase the height to 3 lines.

What irks me with HW supplied drivers is the display is often seen as one, and windows pop up in the middle so they get split across both displays. Even with MS supplied drivers, Citrix published apps do the same thing.

darcilicious
Cyber Librarian
Premium Member
join:2001-01-02
Forest Grove, OR
·Ziply Fiber

darcilicious

Premium Member

At home with to 16:10 monitors, I don't use a taskbar on both; at work with two 5:4 monitors, I do.

I don't believe there is anybody on this site that can say with any authority what "most users want" without including references to a survey/study and even then, there are lies, damn lies, and statistics.
Mele20
Premium Member
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI

Mele20 to Happydude32

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to Happydude32
How did you get that bottom section? Mine is blank and I have Windows 8 Pro. For me, whether or not the taskbar is on both monitors depends on Control Panel/Display settings and nVidia settings.
Happydude32
Premium Member
join:2005-07-16

Happydude32

Premium Member

All I did was right click on the taskbar and select Properties. I'm running 8.1 Pro, but that same option I believe was included in 8.

sivran
Vive Vivaldi
Premium Member
join:2003-09-15
Irving, TX

sivran

Premium Member

Likely her nvidia driver's fault. I haven't updated to 8.1 and have the same options.
Mele20
Premium Member
join:2001-06-05
Hilo, HI

Mele20

Premium Member

That makes sense. It's an OLD driver. I tried to update it a couple of weeks ago and I followed all nVdia instructions on uninstalling the old driver, etc (this is not my first computer with an nVidia card so I am familiar with the correct steps for installing a new driver) but I didn't remove all registry entries connected to the old driver as I forgot about that. The new driver failed installation with an unknown error. UGH. I haven't attempted it again but I bet if I could get the latest driver installed that I would see what Happydude32 See Profile sees.