A Technology Trick to Boost
Productivity
By Witt Sparks
 As a VA, you are probably all too
accustomed to juggling multiple tasks, most of which are computer
based. Emails to reply to, web sites to update, and articles to
write consume your time and your windows desktop. Soon the task bar
at the bottom of the screen is so crowded you don’t remember which
Excel spreadsheet had the client’s accounting and which one had your
monthly billing statement. Soon you spend more time clicking between
windows trying to keep on top of everything than actually working.
You can invest in a larger monitor to
get more screen real estate, but the cost of monitors rises
exponentially with size. A little known trick is to buy a second
monitor. Plugged into your computer, a second monitor allows you to
drag windows and icons from one monitor to the other. The mouse
moves smoothly from one to the other. When the pointer reaches the
edge of one monitor, it jumps to the next screen. I can open my
email program in one window and have my client’s monthly records
visible on the left monitor while I enter the values into Excel on
the right monitor, and never have to minimize a window. Or code HTML
on the left and view a preview on the right. Microsoft Windows
supports such configurations, and getting it to work is surprisingly
easy. The following step-by-step process shows you how it works.
1. Make sure your operating
system supports multiple monitors.
This is easy. Microsoft windows supports multiple
“heads” (in industry lingo) back to Windows 98. All Apple G4
products support multiple monitors, as do all Sun products. If
you’re using Linux, you’ll have to consult the documentation for
your release. This article focuses on how to install a second
monitor under Microsoft Windows XP. For other operating systems,
consult your user manual or contact technical support.
2. Does your computer hardware
support multiple monitors?
First a quick tech education for the not-so-hardware-inclined.
Every computer has a specialized electronic component that tells
the monitor what to display. This component is called the video
board, video card, or graphics adaptor. In desktop systems, the
graphics adapter is sometimes on a separate expansion card that
plugs into a slot inside the computer. In other systems, the
graphics adaptor is part of the main processor board (called the
motherboard).
For desktop users, it’s simple
to see if the graphics adaptor supports multiple monitors. If there
is more than one VGA port on the back of the computer, then it
almost certainly does. More and more newer systems are coming with
multiple display support standard. Older computers, however,
probably have a video card that supports a single monitor. In that
case you have two options. The first is to buy an additional PCI
video card to install along with the existing card. This could
present challenges, however, as sometimes two video cards won’t play
nicely together in a single computer, causing conflicts with memory
addresses or interrupts.
An easier solution is to remove your
existing card and install a single video card that supports two (or
even four) displays. Many graphics adaptors available today include
support for two monitors, and can cost less than $100.
Consult your
system’s documentation for instructions on how to open
your computer’s case, remove the old card, and insert
the new card.
When you restart Windows,
it will automatically recognize the new hardware and may
ask you to insert a CD that came with the graphics
adaptor.
If you open your computer and find
that the graphics adaptor is part of the motherboard (in other words
there is no graphics card to remove and replace), all is not lost.
Most motherboards have a way to deactivate the built in card so that
you can install a separate card. Instructions for doing this will be
in your users manual, or you may have to contact technical support
for your machine.
For laptop users, you’ll have
to determine what type of graphics adaptor you have and whether it
supports multiple displays. I have a Dell Inspiron 8500 with an ATI
Radeon 9000 graphics adaptor. I found the graphics adaptor type by
opening the control panel, clicking "displays," then clicking
"settings." Next I went to ATI’s website and looked up the Radeon
9000 and found that it does indeed support multiple displays.
If your laptop’s graphics adaptor
does not support multiple displays, you may be out of luck. Contact
the manufacturer to see if it is possible to upgrade the graphics
adaptor to one that does.
3. Plug in your second monitor
and configure the software.
Once you determine that your video card supports multiple displays
or you have made the necessary hardware upgrades, it’s time to
plug in a new monitor and make it all work. With the new monitor
turned off, plug it in to the empty VGA output on your video
adaptor. Or, in the case of a laptop, to the VGA output on the
back of the computer. Turn on the second monitor. Open the control
panel, open "displays," and click the "settings" tab.
You should see a blue area with two
boxes in it (see figure 1), labeled "1" and "2." Click on box 2.
Select the checkbox labeled "Extend my windows desktop onto this
monitor." Push Apply. The new monitor should activate. Push the
"Identify" button. A large 1 and 2 should appear on the monitors. By
dragging the boxes, arrange them so that they match the arrangement
of the monitors on your desk. This will ensure that the mouse cursor
behaves intuitively when moving from one monitor to the other.
Selecting each box will allow you to modify the screen resolution
and color settings for the corresponding monitor. Set up the
resolution on the new monitor to your liking and push apply.
If the settings tab in
the displays window doesn’t look like I’ve described, it’s
possible that the video driver you have doesn’t support multiple
displays, even if the hardware does. Contact the manufacturer to
obtain the correct drivers.
Now you should be able
move the mouse between monitors, and drag windows as well.
Microsoft Windows XP
supports up to 10 monitors on a single computer. For more
information on this topic including how to build your very own
video wall, visit
http://www.multiplemonitors.org/.
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Witt Sparks, writer and programmer by trade and an avid adventurer
and traveler. See his web site at
www.peakonetech.com
or travel with Witt at
www.africaoverland.info
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