Extended desktop possible? Win7

eggyoke

eggyoke

eggyoke

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I basically want more desktop space separate from my main desktop.

I had an extra monitor that extended my desktop space so I could separate my work/writing stuff from my everyday/gaming PC stuff. I thought I'd be OK without it when it died (old LCD monitor) but I'm starting to struggle. It's actually effecting my productivity because visually I would organise my writing by age and priority in columns and I'd know what each file was, however I just keep losing track of what's what now, it's like I'm burying everything in folders.

I naively assumed there would be a way to extend my desktop space on one monitor and either switch between desktops or scroll horizontally across or something... but I can't find anything.

I've tried two virtual desktops, including Microsoft Desktops v2.0 however it basically duplicates the main desktop and if you change or move an icon on one desktop, it changes for them all. This isn't what I want.

Is there no way to do this? I thought there might be a way to trick the computer into believing there are two monitors and then switch between screens or something but I can't figure it out.

Using Windows 7
27" 1080p monitor.

Cheers.
 
I don't know if this article helps at all?

https://www.howtogeek.com/195962/unlock-virtual-desktops-on-windows-7-or-8-with-this-microsoft-tool/

Alternatively most Linux distros support multiple desktoos. But I'm guessing you need specific Windows software so this isn't an option. So something else you could try if the above article doesn't work is to run something like Virtualbox and Windows inside that. You can configure Virtualbox to have multiple monitors which are just windows on the main host OS.

But looking at the above article it seems MS might provide a tool to do what you want.
 
Thanks for the reply guys.

Wow, looking into Fences seems to be exactly what I was looking for and apparently allows "desktop pages" so you can swipe across like on a smart phone. I'll try it on the weekend and see if it works out.

Thanks again.

EDIT: Just an update; Fences is pretty much exactly what I was looking for. It's actually better than the original setup because I can just swipe across to different desktops.

Thanks jpaul :D
 
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