Additional monitor displays background but nothing else.

My additional monitor displays the desktop background but no other
information at all. I am running Vista Home Premium.

Can anyone please help me to get the second screen (Samsung 245B) to
replicate what's on the first (Fjitsu Amilo 1718)?

 

www.ultramon.com

 

Use the clone mode instead of extending the desktop on the second display.
In Personalization/Display Settings uncheck the "Extend the Desktop on this
Monitor" (leave both boxes unchecked) for the second display. You don't say
what video card you are using but both nVidia and ATI card drivers come with
a control panel for setting up the second monitor in various ways.

 

I have a Packard Bell iExtreme running Vista home premium, my monitor is
a philips something or other listed as a Proview/EMC/PTS analogue
display. My TV is listed as a LG Electronics 32LC46.

I have just bought an HDMI cable to connect my PC's Geforce 9500GS to
my HDMI TV set in the other room.

In the nVidia control panel, I can either set up the display settings
to accomodate two different screens working independently with seperate
settings (dualview), or have them set up the same (clone).

If I select clone, I get a copy of whatever happens to be on my
desktop, which is what I want, so I can watch films and stuff from my PC
on my TV. However, the refresh rate is the same as my monitor which is
too high for my PC and causes lines and flickering. If I reduce the
refresh rate to 30hz, which is what the TV seems to be able to handle,
it's too slow for my monitor and I will get no image at my desk, but
then I don't particularly want to sacrifice my 75hz on my monitor
anyway.

If I select 'dualview' however, by tweaking the individual settings for
my TV, I can get a nice, clear image which, with adjusting the
resolution, fits okay on the screen too. However, all I get on my TV is
the desktop background, no shortcuts or anything else.

How can I have the same thing as the desktop on my TV and still have
control over the settings? I've tried messing with the winows display
settings and setting the second screen as not an extention, but it
doesn't help. When I do this, it just resets the nVidia controls to
single screen mode and there is no signal at all coming through to my
TV.

Is this something wrong with the nVidia control system, or is there a
way to configure things in the dualview mode to send what I want to the
seconsd screen. I've never used a second screen before, so I wouldn't
know.

 

Run the secondary display in extended desktop mode.
This allows for it to have a separate resolution and allows you to drag and
drop any object from the primary to the secondary display.
Many users just copy the icons from the desktop appearing on their primary
display so that they are also always available on the extended desktop on
their secondary display.