Running Dual Monitors

I just added a second monitor to my home PC. I like the extra screen real estate but there is one thing I cant seem to do that I'd really like to be able to do.

When I'm gaming I've got the game is up on the main screen and I'd like to have something else up on the 2ndary screen (iTunes, website, whatever). In order to do anything with the 2ndary screen I have to alt+tab to the desk top which means I cant keep track of what is going on in the game. Is there anyway to set up a keyboard shortcut that when I press the button(s) I can move the mouse out of the game and onto the 2ndary screen?

 

To be honest, I don't think you can...

 

i am the same way. i like to have web sites open when i am gaming as well.

this really only works when the game offers "windowed mode". when enabled, you can just freely click any where on any monitor. this works great with MMOs but not so well with FPSs for example.

 

Unfortunately, games generally force focus of the mouse and keyboard to their application. This usually allows for better gaming, so it makes sense. Of course, if you were playing solitare, this really wouldn't be an issue.

 

Full screen windowed mode works great for WoW. Have yet to try it with Mass Effect. We'll see how that goes.

 

I just use an additional computer (24" iMAC) on my left for web browsing and such and an additional Laptop on my right for movies.

 

All above statements are true. The reason why full screen games prevent you is twofold:
1. A mouse is usually for aiming and rotation. If your mouse were to go off the screen to your second monitor and the control switched from the game each time, it would be very frustrating
2. Games are demanding and require full use of your video card. It's a stress just having the second monitor on and doing nothing. Some video cards will even shut down the second monitor to ensure performance is not lost. Launch a game where you can do a speed test and compare tests with two monitors vs. shutting the video card down to one monitor, results will always be much higher with just the one monitor going.

 

I get that, that is why I was wondering if there was anyway to enable a keyboard shortcut that would allow this instead of it being a default action. If the shortcut key(s) are not being used, then the mouse stays in the game. If the shortcut key(s) are being used, then it is possible to move the mouse out of the game.

This is not an issue. I'm running 2 Nvidia video cards, one for each monitor. They are not identical cards (GTX240 & GTX460), so no SLI for me (yet).

I did find a program that helps manage 2 monitors, it's called Display Fusion. Not sure I like it though. It does not handle dual screen savers very well and the UI is kind of clunky. There are a couple other programs out there that manage dual monitors. I think I'll be giving them a try soon.

 

I've never heard of someone trying a momentary switch style shortcut, I'd imagine that the problem comes from finding a key that universally wouldn't interfere with other programs. The other problem is that it is extremely bad coding to provide the coding hooks necessary to have an app control other windows - this is reserved for the operating system ONLY. There's some grey area ways around it that are quite difficult. I had a roommate do a simple program that would do nothing more than allow him to fling windows between monitors, and he ended up having to dig through tech support with nVidia and Microsoft, which was a big ordeal. It eventually became his term project.

If the needed functionality is simply switching songs, volume, or play/pause, these are special commands within windows that can be programmed to dedicated buttons. In this case, just buy a keyboard that has these buttons. You could do this for as low as $20 with a Logitech K200 or a Microsoft comfort Curve 2000

If you wanted to get fancier, you could try a Logitech G110 where you could program a macro key to swap to the desktop, select the program, press the desired sequence of keys, and swap back. Results may vary.

 

Yea. I have the Logitech G15 and G510. I'm sure you could use one of the macro keys to create a shortcut to con+alt+del or tab out of a game.