Several Dual-Monitor Problems

[Chimera245]

I have recently added a second monitor to my computer, but have been run into some quirks making it work right.

The first monitor is a 40 inch Vizio TV. It is connected to my graphics card with HDMI.

The new second monitor is a 27 inch Vizio TV. It is connected through a VGA cord, to a VGA-to-DVI adapter, to the graphics card.

I get picture just fine, but there are some quirks.

1. I can't change the second screen from 4:9 aspect ratio. The TV is widescreen, but I can't get the two black bars on the left and right to go away.

2. I intend my smaller screen to be the "internet browser/instant message/random apps" screen while the bigger original screen is the "gaming/video watching" screen. Thus my taskbar and most of my desktop icons are on the smaller screen. But if I ever turn off one screen, everything rearranges itself to fit on the remaining screen. This happens regardless of which screen is turned off. And when I turn the other screen back on, everything is still all shifted around. And since my bigger TV is connected to several other devices, like my Playstation and Wii, I don't always have it tuned to the computer's input, so this happens ALL THE TIME. Is there a way to tell my computer to keep things where I put them?

 

[hang-the-9]

1. What are the full graphics settings you have on both screens, are they set to expand or duplicate and what resolution? Do you have a background picture set? Can you move the mouse into the black side areas?

2. This is normal, when you turn off one monitor, the system sees only one monitor as the main one and moves all icons there. It will remember last window location also, so if you have a windows on the second monitor, turn it off and open the program on one monitor, even when the second monitor is turned on, it will put that windows on the first one.

 

[Chimera245]

1. Expand. Monitor 1 (E370VL) is at 1920x1080. Monitor 2 (Generic Non-PnP Monitor) is at 1024x768. A background picture is set. It shows on both screens simultaneously, though it is cropped on the second monitor. The mouse can not enter the black areas on the sides of screen 2. As soon as it leaves the background image area, it is on the first screen. Both screens are on orientation:landscape, and screen 2 is set as Main Display

2. I can see the benefits this carries, but is there any way to tell my computer to remember the original position of everything for when it all shifts back to the original screen? My desktop icons always get shuffled when moving between screens, and the apps I have open move around too.

 

[hang-the-9]

So that 1920 x 1080 is a wide screen resolution, is that the one with the black bars on the side? Do things look squished in that screen like it's trying to fit images set for one resolution to another? Try updating the video drivers that may help with some issues.

This may help with getting icons to their saved locations http://www.snapfiles.com/get/desktopok.html

http://www.winhelponline.com/blog/save-and-restore-desktop-icon-layout/