Sorry if this seems like a stupid question, but this is the first time I've set up multiple displays on Windows 7. Is there a way to extend the taskbar onto the second monitor, preferably showing the windows I have open on that monitor? I get that you probably can't do that natively in Windows, but is there any third party programs that will do this?
Ultramon is usually the most common program for doing this. I think displayfusion might have been updated to support W7 better though.
i use displayfusion - the free version doesnt do the extended taskbar, but you can get a 1month trial of the pro version. even then its only 16 quid (worth it imho).
Windows (or Mac's top menu bar for that matter) doesn't do extend-taskbar-to-other-monitors. UltraMon was the one i used during XP and Vista days. but i've given my secondary to my parents, so not sure about win7 compatibility.
Ultramon works fine in Windows 7 64, extend the task bar & show's the windows you have open ... Even does the auto hide as well.
Nothing I've tried quite fully supports win7. You can get an extended taskbar that looks quite good, although the displayfusion one I just installed now is not quite tall enough. Another feature that's missing is the full thumbnail previews. They show a preview, but the media player one misses the player controls and the ie one doesn't show all tabs. Multiple instances of the same program aren't grouped together either. So all in all, not quite sure if it's worth it anymore. The Win7 taskbar is so much better than the older Visa or XP ones, it makes it almost impossible to fill, so no need for the extra space as before. I'll just give ultramon another go and report back. Ultramon used to be my program of choice, but the releases I've tried on Win7 hasn't been up to the usual high standards set on XP and Vista. Microsoft really has managed to make it difficult for these programs. No idea why Microsoft doesn't support a multi monitor taskbar as standard, would make sense. I'd love one where it's actually a propperly stretched out tasbar, with the clock and notification area on the second monitor. Edit: just tried the latest version of Ultramon. It suffers the same problem as DisplayFusion, that it's not quite tall enough (I do have my taskbar at the top though). Ultramon doesn't appear to support thumbnail previews either, and it also doesn't group similar programs.
Yeah, for all the good features they added in Windows 7 they could have added better support for multiple monitor setups. Anyway, I tried out the free trials of both UM and DF, but I preferred DF and it seemed to do what I needed to do, plus it's cheaper as well.
This should help: http://lifehacker.com/5519833/five-best-tools-for-managing-your-multi+monitor-setup It shows the top 5 recommendation (with a nice description explanation each) from the Lifehacker reader, and pass through a vote on which one likes best.
I think i bought Ultramon around 2 years ago? It's one hell of a program for around $30 i think... Definitely worth the money in my opinion if you plan on having more than one monitor for time to come...
I use DisplayFusion, great piece of software and I like the ability it offers of having different background images on each monitor.
When I made my dual wallpaper I screen capped the current taskbar and extended it across the bottom of the 2nd monitor wallpaper to it looks like it flows across both but really it's just part of the image.
Try Actual Multiple Monitors. You'll get extended taskbar with Start button, System tray, toolbars, clock and support of all Win 7 features on each monitor.
