Having an additional display screen or an extended desktop can be very beneficial, especially when you have to keep multiple windows open for reference. For instance, if you need to compare some data across two or more websites, or if you need to refer to one document and complete another. Continuously pressing the [Alt] + [Tab] to switch between the two windows can be painstakingly frustrating and slows down your productivity to quite an extent. Having two or more monitors helps in viewing multiple windows at full screen rather than stacking, cascading or viewing them side-by-side. But investing in an additional monitor can set you back by over Rs 5,000. Additionally, you would need a graphics card with two video headers to support that extra monitor. Most people who have older laptops lying around don’t know what to do with them. In the past, we have shown you how you can convert an older, working laptop into a panel PC or an additional TV for your home. This time, we shall show you how you can use this old laptop as a second display for your existing desktop PC or laptop. Ripping off a laptop’s LCD display screen and converting it into a monitor is next to impossible because it employs a lot of cabling, soldering and converting digital signals into analog for input support. While these convertor kits are rarely available, one would also have to take the trouble of designing the cabinet for the LCD screen. In this workshop, we will not do any sort of hacking or soldering. We shall use the laptop as it is, provided it is in working condition. All one needs here is a simple software utility and a network cable. Let’s begin! Start with your laptop first. The laptop will now be referred to as the secondary PC, while your existing desktop PC or laptop which needs the extended monitor will be referred to as the primary PC. If needed, format the laptop (secondary PC) and install a fresh copy of Windows. Windows XP, Vista or 7 in both 32-bit and 64-bit versions are compatible. Set up the drivers for the laptop, especially the network and display, without which this workshop will not succeed. Once done, all you need to do is set up the network between the secondary PC and the primary PC. The network can be configured in either infrastructure mode or peer-to-peer mode. If you intend to use wireless networking, you can use the ad-hoc mode too. We suggest you use wired networking to get maximum performance. Once the networking is done, it is time to install the utility software.
Go to www.maxivista.com and download the free demo/trial software. This download will be a self extracting archive that contains two utilities—one each for the primary and secondary PC. First run the primary PC setup utility on the primary PC. The computer screen will flicker while setting up the utility and install a few video drivers on it. Make sure you allow the software to make the necessary changes. Once the installation is complete, you will be asked to restart the PC; go ahead. Now, while the primary PC is restarting, you can install the secondary PC setup utility on the secondary laptop. The procedure is similar and no additional user inputs are required. Once both the computers are ready with the utilities installed, all you need to do is double click on the respective Maxivista icons on the desktop and start the utility. It has no user interface; it just starts up as a service and an icon will be available in the system tray. Absolutely nothing needs to be done on the secondary PC except for starting the utility (it also starts as a system service, so you don’t even need to do anything). Note: If you have any firewall or antivirus application installed on your PCs, you must set them to allow Maxivista to function using the network. Now on the primary PC, double-click on the Maxivista icons in the system tray and your display will start to flicker a few times. The system theme will also change from default to basic. Have a look at your laptop; Maxivista will automatically startup and will be ready for use as an extended display for your primary PC. .
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