One Monitor - How to Simulate Two Monitors - Windows XP

phuschnickens

I think the title says it all. I'm currently running Windows XP with two monitors at work. One is a 15 year old 21" HP CRT that shows white more like a greenish yellow and occasionally makes popping sounds that seems to be the chassis "settling." I'm just waiting for the glass to explode and cut my face. My other monitor is a 4:3 19" LCD. I'm going to try to convince my boss to get rid of it all and just do one big widescreen monitor. With the kind of work I do it is mandatory for me to be able to view two applications on the screen at the same time. I know I could use the "Restore" button and then use the resize handles to fit two windows next to each other, however that would be quite inefficient compared to what I'm dealing with right now.

Is there a way that I can simulate a dual monitor setup using a single monitor? I tried googling of course, but mostly see mac and linux stuff and with obscurity like that I figured it'd be best to ask someone with experience.

Do you guys think maybe I should just stick with two 4:3 monitors to keep life simple?

Any other related suggestions appreciated.

Thanks as always guys.

RichD

Why would it be inefficient? I do it at work all the time. surely it is no different as long as you size and position them correctly

kryyst

Now is there a reason you can't use say a 19" and a 17" lcd? Instead of say a 26" wide screen?

Two monitors is more efficient then 1 really large one unless you are working on really wide spread sheets or other similar work, but it sounds like you aren't so I'd say go with two monitors in almost every case. The only other issue from two monitors is if you are doing graphic works and trying to stick your body on one and your tools on the other. If your monitors aren't identical the colours can show up differently and that could impact what your doing.

phuschnickens

Kryyst - With you. I think that's the only way to go. In the kind of work I'm doing, if I were to go with two monitors, it'd be stupid to go with widescreens. The vertical real estate is too valuable. I do work with spreadsheets about 25% of the day and most of them have from 50 plus columns, but I've gotten pretty good at managing with a 19" 4:3 so it's not a big concern for me. Color is fortunately rarely a problem... most of my work is grayscale.

I'm convinced... replace the CRT with another 4:3 19" LCD.

Thanks for the input.

drasnor

I had a discussion with Snark about going dual monitor for coding and he had the awesome suggestion of getting two widescreens and running them side-by-side in portrait mode. This seems like it might work for you as well.

-drasnor

phuschnickens

Interesting suggestion. I might look into that. There might be a bit of a budget cap and vertical space might be a concern (stupid cabinets above my workspace). But I do like the idea.