Hi Lifehacker, How can I run two external monitors from my MacBook Pro with the lid closed? It’s got to be do-able, somehow. Thanks, Thinks-Outside-Two-Boxes More »
With hardware-accelerated Flash 10.1 final now available, it’s a good time to try out some full-screen videos. But click anywhere else, and the window-filling frame goes away. Here’s how to keep videos playing full screen using Flash 10.1. More »
Windows: There are some great multi-monitor management tools available but if you’re trying to keep things free and open-source the pickings get a little slimmer. Dual Monitor Tools is a collection of open-source applications for managing your multi-monitor setup. More »
The price of extra monitors has fallen steadily over the years, quality has risen, and Windows 7 is more multi-monitor friendly than any previous edition of Windows. Here’s how to make the most of your multi-monitor setup in Windows 7. More »
Multiple monitors expand your screen real estate, boost your productivity, and give you tons of extra room to spread out your work. Boost the benefit of your multiple monitors with these great tools. More »
Windows: If you’ve got more than one monitor, you’ve probably tried fullscreening a Flash video on one monitor while working in another. The problem: Flash exits fullscreen as soon as you click on something. FlashHacker fixes this problem. More »
Here at Lifehacker, we’re big fans of the multiple monitor approach, and it turns out Microsoft founder Bill Gates is too. But has he developed the optimal approach to email management? More »
Windows only: PushMonitOff is a nifty little stand-alone executable that instantly turns your monitors off with a hot key combination, allowing you to flip them back on when needed. Why would you want to turn off your monitor by keyboard instead of using the the physical monitor button? If you manually turn off the monitor, you can’t awaken the monitors with input from the computer. Once you activate the hot key combo and shut down your monitors with PushMonitorOff, any input from the keyboard or mouse will turn them back on. If you’re sporting multiple monitors, clicking two keys on your keyboard also saves you the reach of flipping two, three, or more buttons to power down without feeling like you’re shutting down a power station. Don’t laugh—when clicking my bank of monitors off, I feel like I should be hearing turbines winding down. The default combination is SHIFT+F1, but can be modified to any combination you like by accessing PushMonitOff settings via the system tray icon. PushMonitOff is a portable and stand-alone freeware application, Windows only. Photo by Lemsipmatt. PushMonitOff [via EliteFreeware]
Windows only: If you’re looking to manage windows and wallpapers on multiple monitors, it’s tough to go wrong with the reasonably priced, and recently updated monitor manager DisplayFusion. We’ve sung the praises of DisplayFusion before, for its ability to customise your dual monitors. DisplayFusion has recently been revamped to include even more features including the ability to grab wallpapers from not only your computer and Flickr, but from the excellent wallpaper collection at Vladstudio—a popular wallpaper site based on responses to where you found your favourite multi-monitor wallpaper. While the addition of new resources for new wallpaper is great, it isn’t nearly as newsworthy as the addition of multi-monitor windows management. Like previously reviewed UltraMon, DisplayFusion now has the ability to span your taskbar across all of your monitors. You can switch windows between your monitors using hotkeys or by clicking on the title bar of the window with the middle mouse button. There is one small hiccup with the window management tool, though: if you’re using multiple monitors, it doesn’t allow you to select which monitor the window will move to like UltraMon does. Using the hotkey or middle mouse button sends the window to the next monitor in the sequence as Windows sees them. As you can see in the screen shot up top, my monitors are arranged in a 2-1-3 pattern, so to move a window from the centre monitor to the far right one requires two clicks. Not a deal breaker by any means, and not even an issue if you only have two monitors, but something to keep if you’re sporting three or more monitors. If you can tolerate the loss of some of the tweaks available in UltraMon, like the multi-monitor screensaver tool, DisplayFusion costs less than half of UltraMon’s $US40 price at $US16. I’ve used both over the last year with dual, and then triple, monitors and, dollar for dollar, DisplayFusion is a great value. The day DisplayFusion adds a handy titlebar button for tossing windows from one monitor to another, I’ll stop using the two applications side by side and use DisplayFusion exclusively. DisplayFusion has a limited-functionality free edition, and you can request a 30-day trial licence to test out the full package before purchase. DisplayFusion is $16 for a lifetime licence and is Windows only.
DisplayFusion 3.0 [Binary Fortress]Windows only: Moving your mouse cursor across multiple monitors can be a long haul, especially in triple- and quad-monitor setups. Snap your mouse from screen to screen instead with keyboard shortcuts. Multi-Monitor Mouse is a small application which, when triggered by a keyboard combination, snaps your mouse cursor to the next monitor in your multi-monitor setup. You can specify whether the mouse jump should be relative—having the cursor placed in the same relative position on the new monitor—or in the centre of the screen. You can also specify the order of monitors the mouse will leap to, if sequential’s not your thing. It takes a few minutes to get used to, but once you get the hang of this app, it’s hard to imagine dragging your mouse across 3,000+ pixels again. Multi-Monitor Mouse is freeware, Windows only. Multi-Monitor Mouse
