Quantcast
PCWorld.com is upgrading some back-end systems. Some site features, such as user registration, may be temporarily unavailable.

Windows NT

Spread your desktop over multiple monitors; flush temporary files from your PC.

  • 0 Yes
  • 0 No

So you've taken up day-trading. You're also scrounging up MP3 files for the ultimate road-trip collection and updating your rotisserie baseball site. Meanwhile, you have to get some real work done.

You need a second monitor. Windows 98 makes it fairly easy to spread your desktop over multiple displays, and, fortunately, graphics adapters and monitors are downright cheap these days. Alas, NT 4.0 is less flexible than Windows 98 in its handling of multiple displays (the latter allows you to mix and match as many as eight graphics adapters using standard drivers). Depending on which adapter is already installed on your system, however, you can add a second fairly easily.

The secret is to install two identical cards, and download a driver that supports dual-display mode. Many dual-display drivers also require that you first install Service Pack 3 or later, something you should do anyway. (Download this from Matrox:) Though a few vendors (ATI chief among them) have no dual-display drivers, most offer them for at least some of their adapters. Here are two leading offerings that work in dual-display mode with Windows NT 4.0:

  • Number Nine: the Millennium, Millennium 2, Mystique, Mystique 220, Millennium G200, and the Productiva G100.

  • Diamond: the Imagine Series 2 (not the original Imagine 128) and the Revolution 3D.

If installing a second card in your system is not appropriate (because you're tight on slots or because the card you already have doesn't support dual displays), you can still set up a dual-display system. The following single-card adapters support two displays under NT 4.0:

  • Recommend this story?
  • 0 Yes
    0 No
  • Great year-end deals
    for small business!
  • Get 24/7 live remote AT&T Tech Support 360* service along with select Lenovo* PCs (with Intel® Core™ 2 Duo processors) and save up to 200!

    Learn more

  • HP EliteBook* 6930p Notebook with Intel® vPro™ technology and a free HP Basic Docking Station - $641 instant savings!

    Learn more

Learn more about the Windows Phone PCWorld Gift Guide

Focus on Personal Productivitysponsored by Microsoft

  • Personal Finance 2.0 These free and fee-based Web services not only aggregate data from your online bank accounts, they give you tools for managing your money.
  • High-Tech Travel Tips Plenty of stories provide advice for elite mobile professionals. But what about you, the unproductive traveler?

People who read this also read:

Sponsored Links