Why Aren’t You Using Two Screens?

Two monitors is easy to setup

Your operating system – Windows or Linux – makes it very easy to use two monitors side by side and extend your screen (either getting a desktop monitor to connect to your laptop, or you can have two monitors operating from a desktop PC). Once you’ve plugged the monitor in and set it up (which again should be pretty straightforward on most operating systems), you’ll be able to move your mouse cursor from the border of one screen and it will then logically appear on the other.

Windows 10 Step by Step to Setup Two Monitors

In windows 10, the following steps will make this happen:

• Start with your PC or laptop turned off, connect your new monitor to your laptop/pc, connect it to power, and then turn on your computer.
• Once your machine has booted up, click your windows key and ‘I’ to bring up your settings
• Select ‘System’ – then select ‘Display’ on the left hand side
• You should be presented with how you’d like your monitors to work under “Rearrange your displays” – and it’s easy to set it up so it’s clear which monitor is on the left and which is on the right etc.
• Note that under the ‘Multiple Displays’ option on the same screen – ensure that the dropdown reads ‘Extend these displays’ (which should be the default)

That should do it – you should now be able to navigate across screens from your shared ‘border’ in the middle.

The key reasons for using two monitors

There’s a bunch of really obvious reasons why two monitors will help with tasks – some examples might include:

• A word document open on one monitor, and research documents on the other allowing easy drag and drop or cut and paste
• Social media open on one monitor, internet browsing and research on the other
• Spreadsheet or reports open on one monitor, finance program open on the other
• Finance or invoicing program open on one monitor, customer database open on the other
• Video conference on one screen, working documents on the other

In all these cases – you can keep the flow of your work going and easily transfer information from one screen to the other, or continue to develop a report etc while staying engaged with your source information.

Things to keep in mind

OK, as always there’s a few things to keep in mind before doing this:

• Do you physically have enough space on your desktop? – your second monitor is going to need to be able to fit in with your current setup.
• Check your display outputs with your PC or Laptop to ensure you get the right cables to connect your new monitor (for example, older PC’s might not have HDMI outputs etc)
• You’ll need a spare power socket – another monitor means another plug
• Do a bit of an OHS check – you’ll want to set your monitor up at a similar height (ideally exactly the same) as your existing monitor

Conclusion

Once you start using two monitors, you’ll never go back. It really does make navigating information much easier, and improves productivity in any task that finds you swapping between documents.