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Dual Monitors or one Big Monitor ?

Monitor Resolution is one of the important things whenever you plan to upgrade to extra monitor space. Decision of whether to go with dual monitors or just get a one big monitor will depend on number of factors. There are numerous benefits of having dual monitors as compared to having a single monitor, however monitor resolution, monitor size and ofcourse your intended work play an important role in deciding whether to do for a big monitor or get two monitors connected to your laptop or desktop.

Let’s analyze hardware part first for having a single big monitor. A single big monitor can give you good viewing area and can be really useful if you do work with complex applications such as graphics designing, trading software, video editing etc. Before going ahead for buying a big monitor, be sure to check the maximum resolution it supports and also what’s the maximum resolution your graphics card of your laptop or desktop will support. In case the new big monitor will be able to support bigger resolution as compared to that supported by your graphics card, your display will be limited to the maximum resolution supported by your graphics card and you might wish to upgrade your graphics card.

From the usability perspective, a big monitor is needed in case you frequently need to scroll with scrollbars. In case you do not have to scroll and are comfortable with the current monitor, then going for extra monitor might be a good option. However if you do have to scroll frequently, do go ahead and get a bigger monitor after analysing whether it will be supported by your graphics card or not.

For having dual monitors, you would need an extra monitor and probably a new graphics card. In case your desktop or laptop already has an extra port available for connecting the other monitor, then you might not need to buy another graphics card. In case you do go ahead with an extra monitor option, remember that it will be supported technically by your computer and hence would require more efforts by the CPU, memory etc. In case you do plan to buy another graphics card for driving dual monitor, remember that the price range is very much varied depending on the dual monitor graphics card you choose. Do spend some time comparing technical details of the graphics cards, review technical details of your extra monitor and ofcourse the price range as well.

Few of things that you will be able to do with an extra monitor are as enumerated below:

  • Change Display Orientation of any of the monitors independently. (Provided your Graphics Card and Monitor Supports it)
  • Have Dual Wallpapers for Dual Monitors using 3rd party software named as MurGeeMon.
  • Rotate the other Monitor Physically depending on your requirements with probably a dual monitor stand.
  • Let Two Applications run simultaneously in full screen, one on each monitor.
  • Work on One Monitor and let the other monitor display some video in full screen mode.
  • Move Application Windows to any of the Monitors when both monitors are connected in Extended Mode.
  • Display the same content on both Monitors (termed as Clone Mode, supported in Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows 8, etc.)
  • Interchange Primary (The Monitor on which Start menu will be displayed) and Secondary Monitor (Monitor on which no Start menu will be displayed).

In a nutshell, decision of whether to go ahead with dual monitors or one big monitor depends on requirements, available hardware, and many other such related things. Do explore this blog to know more about what all dual monitors can give you. Do understand the concept of dual monitors fully before making any purchase and making any decision.

Dual Monitor Windows 7

Yes Windows 7 does supports connecting dual monitors to the PC really easily. All you would need is appropriate hardware which might include two monitors, laptop with VGA / DVI / DisplayPort or other appropriate port to connect the monitor to Laptop, Desktop with dual monitor graphics card, connecting cables and ofcourse a PC running Windows 7. Once you have connected dual monitors to your windows 7 pc, there are good chances that when you power up your computer, you would not need to install any display drivers and windows 7 will recognize your dual monitors and will allow you to configure the monitors using the control panel’s Screen Resolution option.

Screen Resolution Option in Windows 7 to Configure Dual Monitors

Configure Dual Monitors on Windows 7

On Windows 7, you can right click on Desktop and select the Screen Resolution Option to configure your dual monitors. Screen Resolution of control panel in Windows 7 is displayed above in which two monitors are connected in extended mode. In Windows 7 , the dual monitors can also be configured to display the screen in clone mode (The Display Mode in which both the Monitors will display the same Stuff). Windows 7 also allows to enable or disable the monitors at will and also allows to move Monitor position in the virtual screen space. In order to move the Monitor position just drag the appropriate monitor in the Screen Resolution panel to your desired location and save your settings.

Windows 7 has provided significantly better support for dual or even multiple monitors. The MurGeeMon Software provides added features to the dual monitor experience in Windows 7. To start with Windows 7 does not allows to specify different wallpapers for dual monitors and you are forced to select only single image file. The MurGeeMon software allows to configure different background images for dual monitors, provides System Tray Menu and Icon to configure dual monitors really easily. The Monitor Control Software even allows to enable or disable monitors at will with desktop shortcut, system tray menu or even with system wide shortcut keys. Windows 8 is rumoured to provide better support for dual monitors and expected to be launched in 2012.

Windows 7 & Windows 8 Downloads

Windows 7 has been the best operating windows system keeping almost everyone happy. Hopefully Windows 7 will further extend the features offered and will make life easier for everybody. As Microsoft has to take care of needs of lots of users, the selection of what to offer and what not to offer to Windows users would be very tough. This is where 3rd party utilities come in and fulfull the needs. This post will talk of such few software utilities / applications which can be really helpful to Windows 7 and Windows 8 users. Few of the Software Downloads mentioned here would be free to use and others would be really inexpensive shareware applications.

MurGeeMon –  This Software Download for Windows 7, Windows 8 & other Windows version is a software application designed specifically for dual monitor windows users. This Software download is provided of a shareware basis and requires a one time fee of $5.00 as registration fee. The MurGeeMon software provides features such as controlling wallpaper on dual monitors, allows to change login screen image, provides shortcuts to move window applications from one to next monitor, provides easy way to change resolution and much more. There are few features which work only on Windows 7 such as shortcut to switch from clone mode to extended mode or vice versa, changing of Login Screen works on Windows Vista onwards including Windows 7, Windows 8 (for both 32 & 64 bit versions), etc.

Jump List Manager – This shareware application allows Windows 8 users to create a configurable JumpList. The JumpList can be invoked by right clicking on any icon in the taskbar. The Jumplist Software allows you to specify your own shortcuts to websites, applications or documents so that you can launch any of them using the Jumplist feature introduced in Windows 7. Microsoft keeps the old functionality almost always and hence this software download should work fine on Windows 8 as well.

MurGee ScreenSaver – Control your Windows computer’s power state with this small ScreenSaver. This unique screensaver will work fine on almost any Windows Operating System including Windows 8, Windows 7, Vista, etc and can be used to automate computer shutdown, control the power of all the monitors connected to the computer, etc.

Keyboard & Mouse Automation Software – In case you do lots of repetitive tasks on your Windows Computer, then this Keyboard & Mouse Automation Software can be of real help. The Auto Mouse Clicker can automate almost everything including simulating mouse cursor movements, mouse clicks of all types, opening of applications, visiting to a website, finding a color on screen and clicking it, typing on keyboard (including special keys such as Tab Key, Enter Key and Ctrl + C, etc).

Login ScreenSaver Changer – This Free Software download can be really handy to change the ScreenSaver that is displayed at the Login Screen. The ScreenSaver configured using the Login ScreenSaver Changer would be visible before login and at the Windows Lock Screen. The ScreenSaver configured using control panel would be visible only when you do login to your windows computer and leave your computer idle (& the Computer is not Locked Automatically by some software or policy) for the configured duration.

The Software downloads mentioned above have been tested on Windows 7 and as Windows 8 gets released, we will test all the software downloads on Windows 8 as well. Depending on Operating System , there are lots of software development done by various companies and hence Microsoft would keep the existing functionality which in turn will allow all the software downloads listed above to work on Windows 8 as well. Whether you are a single, dual or multiple monitor windows users, the above listed free and free to try software downloads can really help you to control your computer in a better & easy way and can also save you time.

Dual Monitor in Windows 8

Yes there are rumors that Windows 8 will offer better support for dual or multiple monitor Windows computers. There are rumors that Windows 8 will provide taskbar on secondary monitor(s) as well apart from that on primary monitor. Windows 7 did offered better support for developers of 3rd party software and provided ways to clone or extend connected monitors. It seems like Microsoft is finally trying to listen to what dual or multi monitor users have to say.

With increased processor speed, increased RAM, connecting an extra monitor might not affect a computer’s performance. Graphics cards do offer additional RAM for driving the non primary monitors and they do provide basic or sophisticated enhanced graphics capabilities. For personal usages dual monitors can be enough providing the facility of secondary monitor, which greatly enhances the available desktop area and the additional graphics card might support better resolution than primary monitor. Windows does allows switching of primary monitor to any of the monitors connected and hence Windows already provides fine control over dual or multiple monitors connected to a windows computer.

Windows 7 gave developers more ways to provide more functionality to users of dual or multiple monitor windows computer & now it seems like Windows 8 will provide some enhanced features as well for dual or multiple monitor windows users. In case Windows 8 provides an extended taskbar on other connected monitors, then it can be really useful & using  dual monitors on Windows 8 will gain more popularity and of-course users of Windows 7, XP, etc might think of upgrading their operating systems as well.

Move Window within Monitors

When using Multiple Monitors, a keyboard shortcut to move any application window within monitors can be really handy and useful. Configurable keyboard shortcut can be set to almost any key combination to move any window within monitors by moving it to the next monitor or to previous monitor in the multiple monitor windows chain.

Use Keyboard Shortcut to move application window within monitors

Move any window to next or previous monitor with keyboard shortcut

Please do have a look at the screenshot in which the shortcut key combination F9 has been assigned to move any window with focus to next monitor on a multiple monitor windows computer. On a Multiple Monitor Windows computer, Windows assign numbers to every monitor in sequence. The Software presented here can be used to move the window with focus to next monitor or to previous monitor in the multiple monitor sequence.

Depending on usage, number of monitors and purpose of multiple monitors connected, you might wish to move a window to next monitor and in case you would like to move the selected window again to the previous monitor, you can configure another shortcut key combination and move the window to the previous monitor.

Moving windows within multiple monitors in such a controlled way can really be useful and can be really handy. In case you have only dual monitors connected to you windows computer, then only one keyboard shortcut key combination can suffice.

Let’s take a scenario when you have dual monitors connected to your windows computer, the main monitor is also called primary monitor. The Primary Monitor is the Monitor on which Start Menu is displayed and Windows taskbar is visible. The Second Monitor is also termed as secondary monitor and this term is normally used when 2 monitors are connected so that both the monitors together form one display or in technical words, they are connected in extended mode.

With above said configuration and a shortcut key configured as displayed in the figure to move window within monitors, let’s have a window on primary monitor with focus. Now press the shortcut key combination and you will notice that the window will be moved automatically to the second monitor automatically and will still retain the focus. Now press the shortcut key combination and the window will be moved automatically to the primary monitor

The above said example might sound like lots of words and a tedious task, however once you move a window within monitors using an easy to remember keyboard shortcut, the next time you have to move the window within monitors, the configured keyboard shortcut can be really handy. Similarly when using multiple monitors, two or one keyboard shortcuts can be used to move window within multiple monitors with a single key press.

Multiple Monitor Software

Presenting Software to control and manage Multiple Monitors on a Windows Computer. Now it can be real easy and fun to control multiple monitors connected to a Windows Computer. The Software presented here will give you almost full control over your monitors or other display devices such as projector or multiple monitors connected to a video wall.

Desktop Shortcuts, Shortcut Key Combinations, Extra Menu options in Right Click of Desktop, System Tray Menu and a graphical user interface together will provide comprehensive control over multiple monitors easily. Yes the software presented here will work on Windows 7, Windows Vista, XP and other Windows Operating Systems. This Multiple Monitor Software will work fine with Windows 8 (not confirmed yet) which is rumored to be coming soon. In case any of the feature of the software does not works fine with Windows 8 (or any other name which Microsoft gives to it’s next operating system), the free upgrade will ensure that even with next version of Windows, you do get all the functionality working in order.

Software to control Multiple Monitors of a Windows Desktop or Laptop Computer

Control Multiple Monitors of a Windows Computer

The Software presented here is marketed as Dual Monitor Software with the name of MurGeeMon, as few of the features of the software has been designed to work fine with single or dual monitors connected. Yes we are working to get all the features of the software to work with any number of monitors connected to a Windows Desktop or Laptop computer.

Given below are few of the features which can be used to control any of the multiple monitors connected to a Windows Desktop or Laptop Computer. This post will not outline features which can be used to control and manage only dual monitors (such as changing wallpaper, etc)

  • Create Desktop Shortcut to change display resolution of any of the multiple monitors.
  • Configure a Shortcut Key combination to move any application or document window to next or previous monitor.
  • Disable All Monitors except from the Main or Primary Monitor.
  • Move Mouse Cursor to Next or Previous Monitor on a Multiple Monitor Windows PC.
  • Save Multiple Monitors configuration and revert back to that configuration with a desktop shortcut.
  • Turn Off All Monitors with System Tray Menu, Desktop Shortcut or with a System Wide Shortcut Key combination.
  • Change Orientation of any Monitor to Portrait or Landscape with the help of mouse cursor to locate the monitor and system wide keyboard shortcut to change the orientation.
  • Capture Screenshot image of any Monitor by moving mouse cursor to that Monitor and pressing a Keyboard Shortcut to take the screenshot of that Monitor.
  • Change the display configuration to Clone, Extended, Internal or External on Windows 7 onwards.
  • Change Logon Screen of Windows Vista, Windows 7, and probably of Windows 8 as well.
  • View contents of any of the Multiple Monitors connected in a small re-sizable window.

Yes there are other features such as Window Control, ScreenSaver related stuff, Wallpaper Management, Cloning of Application Windows and much more. These features have not been enumerated above as they cannot be categorised specifically for Multiple Monitors,  however this Multiple Monitor Software can be really worth looking into it. The Software is really cheap and you can download the fully working software trial for free.

You can also send us your review of this Multiple Monitor Software by writing to our customer support team and your inputs / review can really help us to improve this software and provide you the suggested changes in the software. You review can really help us to improve the software and is heartily welcome. Download the software trial, explore various features , control your multiple monitors with ease.

 

Shortcut to Enable / Disable Close Button

At times, you may want to disable the close button of any application window, command prompt window or any other program’s window. Disabling the close button can avoid mistakenly closing of a window. The Shortcut provided in MurGeeMon is one of the many other such useful shortcut key combinations. The Shortcut provided to disable / enable  the close button of any application window will toggle the enabled state of the close button on the software.

Shortcut Key Combination to Enable or Disable the Close Button of any Application Window

Configure Shortcut Key to Disable and Enable the Close Button of any Window

We all work on Windows Computers with many application or document windows. Almost all windows have a close button at the top right corner which can be clicked to close that window. Many applications or program ask for confirmation of the close action and many do not. This shortcut key combination can be used to disable the close button and if you press the shortcut key again on that specific window, the close button will get enabled again.

Let’s say you are working on a command prompt window with really technical stuff going in it. After a while you have many windows opened up and you decide to cleanup and close some unwanted windows, you start closing and accidentally close the command prompt window as well. Now you can avoid such accidental mistakes with this shortcut key to enable / disable the close button.

Disabling the close button will still allow you to press the Alt + F4 key combination to close that window. This shortcut key to disable the close button will only save you from accidental mouse clicks on the close button.

There are many other Window control shortcut key combinations that you can use, e.g. Maximize the foreground window, Minimize the foreground window, Make the foreground window to stay always on top, move the foreground window to next monitor on a multiple monitor windows computer and many others.

All this functionality is provided by a Dual Monitor Software, which intends to provide full control over single, dual or multiple monitors connected to a windows computer. The Software provides functionality to control wallpapers, manage windows, clone display or some specific window, control resolution, provides way to create desktop shortcuts to control various aspects of display or monitor, manage control over mouse cursor and much more.

Multi Monitor View Tool for Windows

This post presents a multiple monitor tool for Windows users which can be really handy when using multiple monitors in extended mode. When using more than one monitors connected to a windows pc in extended mode, you can view the contents of every monitor provided they are visible and are facing you. In case any of the monitor in the multi monitor configuration is not facing you and you want to see what’s going on that specific monitor, here is a small and handy tool that can be of help.

Tool to view any Monitor's contents for Windows

View Content of any Monitor connected to your windows computer

This  Multi Monitor tool allows you to select any monitor and then view what’s happening on that specific monitor in a re-sizable window. The re-sizable Windows will display what’s visible on the selected monitor and will refresh automatically after configured time duration. This Tool is provided with the Dual Monitor Software and can be launched from the programs menu of MurGeeMon.

The Screenshot displays the programs menu of MurGeeMon and highlights the Monitor View menu. The Screenshot has been taken on Windows 7 and in case you are using this multiple monitor tool on any other operating system such as Windows XP, Windows Vista or any other Windows version (Yes Windows 8 is coming soon as well), your program menu might look a little bit different.

Screenshot displaying programs menu of MurGeeMon on Windows 7

Launch Monitor View from the Programs Menu of MurGeeMon

On launch this Multi Monitor Tool will prompt you to select a monitor from a dropdown containing technical monitor names. Yes you can launch multiple instances of the application to view contents of more than one monitors at the same time. All you need to do is launch the Monitor View from the programs menu of MurGeeMon, select the desired monitor / display name and you will get a configurable window which can be re-sized and remembers it’s last location and size. Right click on that Monitor Window will present other options available and will even allow you to exit from this multiple monitor tool.

 

Different Wallpaper on Dual Monitors

Dual Monitors with different wallpaper on each monitor is something that Windows does not support by default. In case you have seen the wallpaper changing option, then you must agree that it is really better than earlier way in operating systems such as Windows Vista, Windows XP, etc. This blog post presents a quick and handy way to change wallpaper of each of the monitors connected to Windows Vista, XP , Windows 7, etc.

Setup different wallpaper on dual monitor windows computer

Configure Different Wallpaper on Dual Monitors

The Screenshot displays how to setup different wallpaper on each of the monitors. Just launch the MurGeeMon software, select monitor and then finally select the wallpaper and the selected wallpaper will set onto the monitor. The Software presents wallpaper selection and navigation in a way similar to Windows 7. In case you do have a dual monitor wallpaper big enough to span both the monitors, just check the Single Wallpaper checkbox and the selected wallpaper will be displayed on both the monitors.

For every Wallpaper, the software allows to specify whether you wish to display the wallpaper in stretch mode, tile mode or you want the wallpaper to be just displayed in the center of the monitor. Having different wallpapers on dual monitors was never so easy and fun to have. The Software also allows to specify a custom folder location with wallpapers in it and the selected folder’s wallpapers will be displayed as like any other windows folder locations. You will be also presented with number of wallpapers found at the selected location in the status bar of the software.

Always on Top

Now it is really easy to make any window displayed to stay always on top of other window application. The Always On Top Maker Software works on Windows and is an integrated component on the MurGeeMon Software. Yes it works on Windows 7 and older windows versions such as Windows XP, Windows Vista etc and yes it will work on the future (rumored to be Windows 8) versions of Windows.

Windows Software to make any Window Always on Top

Launch Always on Top Maker from try menu of MurGeeMon

The Always on Top maker can be launched from the System tray menu of the MurGeeMon software as displayed in the figure to the left. The application will allow to select any running application from a list of currently displayed windows on your windows computer. Once you have identified the window that must stay always on top, just click on the button beneath of the window list labelled Make Selected Windows Always on Top and for the lifetime of the selected window, it will stay on top of other applications.

The Windows are displayed in terms of Z Order on a computer monitor or display. In case you select any other application window to stay on top, the newly selected window will be at the top of the Z Order and will be visible on top of any other application window. Use Always on Top Maker to make any window stay at the top so that you can always see that window irrespective of any other window on your computer monitor. Download the software application and give it a try now.

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