Dual Monitor Tools tries to change that by adding multiple dual-monitor features to the operating system. Supported by the application are all Microsoft operating systems from Windows XP to the very latest version of Windows 7.

Dual Monitor Tools provides access to five core features, they are: Swap Screen, Dual Launcher, Dual Wallpaper, DisMon and Dual Snap. Want to know what each does? Read on then. It first needs to be noted that each feature comes with its own executable which reduces the memory footprint significantly considering that you only need to run the executable of the program that you need.

Swap Screen

This feature introduces hotkeys that simplify and optimize the handling of windows on multiple monitor systems. Most of the hotkeys provided by the program are disabled by default, and it is up to you to enable them. They are divided into tabs once you run the program’s options. There are hotkeys for the active window and other windows, for using defined areas on the screen and moving windows to those areas and cursor handling.

Features include minimizing windows, rotating screens, moving windows to a specific part of the screen or changing the cursor resistance to move between screens.

Dual Launcher

The Dual Launcher executable acts as an application launcher, with the added benefit of positioning the applications on the screen.

You can add new programs to the application and configure magic words with which they can be launched in the the launcher window.

Dual Wallpaper

This program simplifies the handling of wallpaper images on dual screen monitors. It is for instance possible to spread a single image across multiple monitors or different images on each monitor.

DisMon

This program can be used to disable monitors, for instance when playing games. DisMon supports command line options which are explained on the developer website over at Sourceforge.

Dual Snap

The last application of the Dual Monitor Tools pack can be used to capture images on one screen and display those images directly on the next. Pretty nice if you run a fullscreen application on one monitor and need to take screenshots.

Interested users can download the latest version of Dual Monitor Tools from the Sourceforge project website.

Users of those operating systems can install the free program Easy Mon to add a similar functionality to their operating system.

Easy Mon displays a first run wizard on the first start of the program after installation. Here it is possible to configure automatic startup of the application and automatic updates.

Once the initial configuration has been saved, the application is ready for use. The default hotkeys are the following:

• [Win] + [ > ] Moves the topmost application window to the right side monitor (if any present).
• [Win] + [ < ] Moves the topmost application window to the left side monitor (if any present).
• [Win] + [ ^ ] Maximizes the topmost application window.
• [Win] + [ v ] If the topmost application window is maximized then it will return to the normal state,
  If the topmost application window is in the normal state then it will be minimized.

Windows-Left and Windows-Right move the active application window to the left or right monitor respectively, just like the hotkeys in Windows 7 would do.

It is possible to change the hotkey combination. The arrow keys will always be part of it, but it is possible to use a combination of Windows, Ctrl, Shift and Alt, for instance to add the Shift key to use the very same hotkeys that are mapped in Windows 7 to the functionality.

EasyMon is compatible with all recent versions of the Windows operating system, including Windows XP and Windows Vista. Downloads are available directly at the developers website over at Codeessentials.

One of the main advantages of Maxto is its multi-monitor support. After executing Maxto for the first time each of the computer monitors currently connected to the computer system become preyed out. This is the configuration phase of the application. The user can then divide each computer monitor screen horizontally or vertically numerous times until the desired partitioning has been defined. Each are can be manually adjusted by moving the dividing bars around. The actual computer monitor shines through which makes it easy for users who want to adjust the settings according to current window placements.

It is furthermore possible to load a monitor profile instead of configuring the areas of the computer monitor manually. Profiles exist that divide the computer monitor vertically or horizontally. The new areas become active once the preparations are done. Another option is to configure an alternate setup for the computer system which can be switched to easily. Perfect if you run two different kind of application sets that have different space requirements.

Keyboard shortcuts are available to move the windows into adjacent areas quickly, to maximize windows full screen or to enable the alternative layout.

The drawback of the application is its resource usage. While the application itself ships with a size of less than 200 Kilobytes it uses more than 30 Megabytes – and the same amount of virtual memory – while running on a computer system with one connected computer monitor. It should also be noted that Maxto requires the Microsoft .net Framework 2.0 or higher.

An alternative is Winsplit Revolution which is more resource friendly or Acer Vista Grid which despite the name works on both XP and Vista.

Maxto, via Lifehacker.

That could pose an excellent idea to use the screensaver as a photo wall. The display is automatically changing every 30 seconds. This can be changed in the options as well.

The screensaver software comes with the ability to add quotes automatically to each photo set. Quotes are taken from so called quote books. Five of them are installed on the computer during the screensaver installation. Those books are simple text files that contain one quote a line. It is therefor easy to add a custom quote book or edit existing ones.

The options of the screensaver are quite extensive. The program offers extensive options to configure the display of the quotes and images. This ranges from selecting the right fonts for the quotes to configuring minimum and maximum sizes for photos on the screen.

One main application for Multi Photo Quotes could be to install them on family computers to display family photos (and quotes) whenever the screensaver becomes active.

Multi-Monitor Taskbar by Mediachance (via Shellcity) ends that by adding a unique taskbar to every computer monitor that gets connected to the computer system. Each taskbar is only displaying the folders and applications that are started in its boundaries which makes the file and folder management that much easier.

The free version of Multi-Monitor Taskbar comes with a few additional handy features like a move to monitor button in Windows XP. It is however limited in comparison to the commercial pro version which adds features like theme support or the ability to resize windows across multiple monitors.

The main function however is available in the free version and that’s probably all that most dual-monitor users need. The pro version comes as a Shareware trial which can be used to test the additional features to see if it’s worth the money.

Frankly, the one makes the other irrelevant, although I would have been very, very impressed if 360 Desktop worked across two displays creating a huge scrolling desktop. In fact I hope its a feature they consider introducing.

"Give someone a second monitor, let them use it for while, and then try to take it away. It just isn’t going to happen.",

Suzanne Ross, Microsoft Research

I couldn’t agree more.

I had a quick Google and found Display Fusion, a awesome little application to customise your dual monitors, either by having different wallpapers on each, or by having one stretched across the two.

I favour the latter, as nothing looks better then a huge, high resolution image displayed like so. For some truly amazing dual monitor images try Mandolux and Digital Blasphemy.

After the initial buzz of using two monitors I also found myself getting annoyed with the fact you have to share one taskbar between the two.

The pretty self-explanatory Multi-Monitor Taskbar puts a taskbar on the second monitor and lets you have programs minimise to this instead of the one on the main display. gHacks has covered this before and this is where I found it.

As some people pointed out in the comments for that article, Ultramon is possibly a better alternative and a beta for Vista is available, but unfortunately its shareware, not freeware.