Two basic things need to be done in Windows: to configure your video settings and to install the video monitor driver.
First you need to check if the video monitor driver is installed. Right click on your desktop choosing “Properties” (or “Personalize” on Windows Vista) from the menu that will show up. Then on the window that will pop up, click on the Settings tab (on Windows Vista click on Display Settings). On this tab click on the drop-down box under “Display” to see if both video monitors are being correctly detected. Windows must show the manufacturer and model name for each video monitor you have (see Figure 15). If this is not happening – i.e. Windows is listing your video monitor as “Plug and Play Monitor”, see Figure 14 – you need to install the monitor driver, which is available on the monitor CD-ROM. Insert the monitor CD-ROM on your optical drive and install the video monitor as instructed, then repeat the above procedure to make sure that the video monitors are being correctly recognized.
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Figure 14: The driver for the video monitors isn’t installed.
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Figure 15: Video monitor with their drivers correctly installed.
On the same window you need to configure the video resolution for each monitor. If you are using LCD monitors, you must configure them with the maximum resolution possible (1440x900 on the video monitors we were using). LCD monitors only present their best quality when they are configured to run under their native resolution, which is usually the maximum resolution supported by the monitor. If you configure them with a lower resolution you will notice that the image will be a little bit blurred. After configuring the resolution for one monitor click on Apply and then select the other monitor on the “Display” drop-down box and repeat the process.
After configuring the resolution you need to configure the refresh rate for each monitor. On the same window click on Advanced button (“Advanced Settings” on Windows Vista) and then, on the window that will show up, click on Monitor tab. There select the maximum value possible under “Screen refresh rate” and then click on “Ok”, see Figure 16. Repeat this process for the second monitor, i.e. select the other monitor on the drop-down box present on Figure 15 and then repeat the process.
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Figure 16: Configuring the refresh rate.
There are other configurations that can be done using the video driver control panel, i.e. the control panel provided by nVidia or ATI. Under this control panel you can configure, for example, if you want a big desktop or that the second monitor repeats the same image that is being displayed on the first monitor. You can also configure if you want your displays side-by-side (i.e. one at the left and the other on the right) or if you want them to be configured as one on top and the other at the bottom. The amount of extra configurations present on the video driver control panel depends on the manufacturer (nVidia or ATI) and even on the driver version, so we won’t be covering these options on this tutorial. However we advise you to explore the video driver control panel at least for you to have an idea on the extra options you have available. The video driver control panel is usually accessed by an option added by right clicking the desktop and/or thru a small icon located at the system tray (i.e. besides the Windows clock).
