REPEAT STEPS 5 THROUGH 7 FOR EACH ADDITIONAL DISPLAY

8. Repeat Steps 5 through 7 for each additional display.

Windows XP Professional uses the virtual desktop concept to determine the relation-

ship of each display. The virtual desktop uses coordinates to track the position of each

individual display desktop.

The coordinates of the top-left corner of the primary display always remain 0, 0. Win-

dows XP Professional sets secondary display coordinates so that all the displays adjoin

each other on the virtual desktop, which allows the system to maintain the illusion of

a single large desktop in which users can cross from one monitor to another without

losing track of the mouse.

To change the display positions on the virtual desktop, in the Settings tab click Identify

and drag the display representations to the desired position. The positions of the icons

dictate the coordinates and the relative positions of the displays to one another.

Real World Using Multiple Displays

Using multiple displays is a great way to increase your desktop space (although

it can quickly consume the space on your actual desk). Many video adapter man-

ufacturers have adapters that already have ports for more than one monitor—an

easy way to set up a multiple-display configuration. Some of these adapters come

with extra software to help manage the displays that provides features like con-

trolling the particular display on which applications appear, limiting the appear-

ance of dialog boxes to the display on which the parent application is shown,

using separate screen savers for each display, and so on.

When you are purchasing extra monitors, you should try to use monitors that are

roughly the same size and set them to use the same resolution. The reason for this