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.

Window management is all about controlling windows on multi-monitor systems. With DisplayFusion 2 users can drag maximized windows to another monitor screen, move (and maximize) windows automatically on the next screen, center and tile windows on the screen. It is even possible to maximize a window across all screens, very nice.

Most functions can be accessed by using hotkeys. The pro version offers fully customizable hotkeys. The video demonstration on the homepage gives a very good overview of the functions of DisplayFusion 2.

The main function of the software is to add separate taskbars for every monitor that you have connected to your system. This means that each taskbar is only showing the applications that are running on that monitor which is an excellent way to keep an overview of all the programs and tools that are running.

It also adds a small icon, or two icons if you have three monitors, that lets you easily move that window to another monitor by clicking the left or right button in the top right corner.

It was build with the authors setup in mind which means that it works best with two monitors or three monitors where the primary monitor has to be the middle one.

Limitiations: With two monitors the secondary must be on right. The monitors must have the same resolution. With three monitors the secondary must be left and right with the primary in the middle. If time permits I may make it universal, but I have too many other projects.

The open source software Synergy makes this possible. Once installed you can use the keyboard and mouse that are connected to your desktop pc on your notebook as well. This is done by installing the Synergy software on all computers that you want to work with that way. Synergy is available for Windows, Linux and Mac which means that it is also possible to use this feature for computers with different operating systems.

One system – the one that uses the keyboard and mouse that you want to use – has to run the Synergy server software and all other computers the client version of Synergy. I don’t want to go over the installation of the server, the synergy website has a very good installation instruction which is all that you need to get everything started.

Synergy has additional features that make it even more worthwhile. It is possible to copy text into the clipboard and paste the same text on the other computer again. It is also possible to use a hotkey (Scroll Lock by default) to prevent that the cursor of the mouse moves outside of the current computer. This is especially useful if you play computer games for instance.