How to use your second PC screen properly?

Whether to work, to play, or just to surf the Net, having a second screen can be really useful. You can write text while viewing searches on your browser Web, play and chat on Discord at the same time, or, more generally, to do more things simultaneously while having a more global vision. If the configuration of a second screen is not complicated, a few small operations will definitely improve your experience. Futura reveals which ones.

Change display settings

If you have two displays of the same model, Windows should normally automatically extend your desktop horizontally. In this case, there is normally not much to change. On the other hand, if your two screens are not identical, then there are small modifications to be made. These are accessible in the display settings.

To access it, right-click on a free area of ​​the Bureau, then click “Display Settings” in the menu that appears.

By default, the two screens appear horizontally aligned, each numbered.

First of all, you can reverse their order with a simple drag and drop. If your screens are not the same size or are not at the same height, you have the option of adjusting them vertically. This way when the mouse will come out of one screen, it will reappear more or less in continuity on the other screen. To validate the changes, you must click on the “Apply” button. You may need a few attempts and adjustments before you find the ideal positioning.

Your screens are configured by default on their resolution recommended. If they are not the same or if they are different sizes, then elements will not appear the same on both monitors. In this case, if you wish, it is possible to increase the resolution of the one that has the better of the two (or to reduce that of the screen that has the weaker of the two).

To do this, scroll down the display settings page to the ” Scaling and disposition ”. You can then bring up the drop-down menu for the resolution of the selected screen. To select a screen, just click on it at the top of the page.

At the very bottom of the page, you must choose “Extend these displays” in the “Multiple screens” option if it is not already done.

Customize the taskbar

By default, Windows 10 extends your taskbar across both screens. This might be handy for some, but others will surely prefer to have everything on the same screen. To manage the display of the taskbar on multiple screens, right-click on a free area of ​​the bar, then select “Taskbar settings”.

Scroll down the page until you locate the “Multiple views” section. This is where you can first decide whether you want the taskbar to be present on all screens or not.

If you leave the option enabled, then you can choose whether the buttons will appear on all task bars, on the main taskbar and where the window is open, or only on the taskbar where the window is open.

Keyboard shortcuts to know

When you have several screens, it is convenient to be able to open several windows and easily stick them on the borders. If it is still possible to adjust the size of the windows and resize them using the mouse, Windows 10 offers some shortcuts keyboard interesting to save you precious seconds:

• “Windows + left” and “Windows + right” wedge the active window to the right or left of the screen on which it is located. If you use the same shortcut, then you can move the window from one screen to another or return it to its original position;
• “Windows + up” and “Windows + down” maximizes or minimizes the active window;
• “Shift key + Windows + left” and “Shift key + Windows + right” allow you to move the active window directly from one screen to another;
• “Shift key + Windows + up” maximizes the active window vertically, which will be particularly useful if you don’t have a taskbar on your second screen;
• “Windows + home key” (the home key often takes the form of an arrow pointing up and left, it is often located above the keyboard digital) has the function of minimizing all windows except the one you are working on. Use the shortcut again to bring them back.

Limit the movement of the cursor to a screen during a game session on Steam

For some games on pc, it happens that the cursor of your mouse continues its movement on the second screen, stopping action in your game. If you want to continue to be able to watch your second screen while being sure that you cannot access it during your session, then the software Free Cursor Lock is what you need.

Let’s see how to block switching from one screen to another during a game session on Steam.

Install the software and then launch it. You then arrive directly on the interface in the “Shortcut” tab. This will allow you to create a shortcut that you will use to launch the game of your choice while limiting the range of movements to a single screen.

Start by checking the “Open Program” box, then click on the “…” button at the end of the line. File Explorer will open, locate the location of Steam.exe.

Note: for video games classics that you do not launch from a platform, search directly for their executable in the file explorer, there will be nothing else to do. You can then directly create the shortcut.

Then click on “Lock Program”, then click on the “…” button at the end of the line to display the file explorer. Go find the executable of the game of your choice. It is normally found in the “Steam> steamapps> common” folder. Click on it and validate your choice with “Open”.

Next, you will need the ID of the game in question. To find out, start Steam and go to the game page. At the top of the screen, its URL is displayed, it contains the ID that you can easily spot.

Now check the “Open Program args” box, then write “-applaunch IDdevotrejeu” (872790 in our example). You just have to click on “Create Shortcut”, a shortcut running the game while limiting your mouse to a screen immediately appears on your Desktop.