How to properly use your second PC screen?

Whether for work, for play, or simply to surf the net, having a second screen can be really useful. You can write text while viewing research done on your web browser, play and chat on Discord at the same time, or, more generally, doing more things simultaneously while having a more global vision. If the configuration of a second screen is not complicated, a few small operations can improve your experience for sure. Futura tells you which ones.

Change display settings

If you have two screens of the same model, Windows should automatically extend your desktop horizontally. In this case, there is normally not much to modify. 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 Deskthen click “Display settings” in the menu that appears.

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

First, you can reverse their order with a simple drag&drop. If your screens are not the same size or are not located at the same height, you have the option of adjusting them vertically. In this way, when the mouse will leave a screen, it will reappear more or less in continuity on the other screen. To validate the changes, you must click on the “Apply” button. It may take a few tries and tweaks before you find the perfect fit.

Your monitors are set to their recommended resolution by default. If they are not the same or are of 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 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 very 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 may be convenient 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 find 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 taskbarson 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 multiple screens, it’s handy to be able to open multiple windows and easily stick them to the borders. If it is still possible to adjust the size of the windows and to resize them using the mouse, Windows 10 offers some shortcuts keyboard interesting to save you precious seconds:

• “Windows + left” and “Windows + right” snap the active window to the right or left of the screen it is on. If you use the same shortcut, then you can move the window from one screen to another or put it back to its original place;
• “Windows + up” and “Windows + down” enlarges or reduces the active window;
• “Key Shift + Windows + left” and “Key Shift + Windows + right” allow you to directly move the active window from one screen to another;
• “Shift key + Windows key + up” expands 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 at the top 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 cursor movement to one screen during a game session on Steam

For some games on pcyour mouse cursor may continue its movement on the second screen, stopping the action in your game in its tracks. 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 the transition 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 the “…” button at the end of the line. File Explorer opens, find the location of Steam.exe.

Note: for video games classics that you do not launch from a platform, look 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 get the executable of the game of your choice. It is normally located in the “Steam > steamapps > common” folder. Click on it and validate your choice with “Open”.

You will then need the ID of the game in question. To find out, launch Steam and go to the game’s page. At the top of the screen, its URLs is displayed, it contains the ID that you will easily locate.

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.