Display Properties/Settings shortcut function

[darkhelmet]

Something I always wanted/needed...

something that when clicked on (ideally from the desktop or system tray) would disable/enable a second monitor. I use dual monitors and when I am gaming I only need the primary (#1) monitor but have to right-click on the desktop/properties/settings and finally uncheck the option to extend windows to the second monitor.

My first request - any takers?

[mouser]

this is a very good idea.. there may be some existing tools to do that.
one non-free one that works wonderfully is UltraMon (http://realtimesoft.com/ultramon/), which lets you save profiles you can start via tray menu, which will set various resolutions on different monitors, including disabling or enabling them.

[lanux128]

with Autohotkey, you can emulate the mouse-clicks that toggles the 2nd display.. i don't have a 2nd monitor to test this but if you can provide the keystrokes/mouse-clicks involved then i may be able to make a script with it.. e.g. the following code will partially help you by opening the display properties & click on "advanced settings"..

[Select]

Run, RunDLL32.EXE shell32.dll`,Control_RunDLL desk.cpl`,`,3 ; Show the Settings tab in Display Properties
WinWait, Display Properties
ControlClick, Ad&vanced, Display Properties ; Open Advanced Properties
Return

[jgpaiva]

There seems to be a way to do this through command line, by using nvidia's nview (only if you have a nvidia graphics board) check this thread.

[Nod5]

And if you have an ATI card, the Control Center and third party tools like the free ATI tray tools, http://www.guru3d.co...le/atitraytools/189/ , lets you create profiles and hotkeys to launch those profiles. It's then possible to make an autohotkey script that when run switches back and forth between two such profiles (by sending the hotkeys).

[darkhelmet]

if you can provide the keystrokes/mouse-clicks involved then i may be able to make a script with it

-lanux128 (July 18, 2007, 03:55 AM)

I have an nVidia 8800GTS running both XP and Vista. I also have AutoHotKey installed. How would I capture the keystrokes to provide you?

[lanux128]

I have an nVidia 8800GTS running both XP and Vista. I also have AutoHotKey installed. How would I capture the keystrokes to provide you?

-darkhelmet (July 18, 2007, 10:08 PM)

you can just write-down or use screenshots to explain what are the title of windows that appears and the name of the buttons that you click to achieve the result (i.e. disable the 2nd monitor)..

[darkhelmet]

No thanks - since my other machine has three monitors I just went ahead a got ultramon. Works pretty good. Only wish I knew about it years ago!

[lanux128]

no harm done.. as they say, better late than never..

[mstuppy]

I was thinking of something along these lines, but combined with an idea I got from the BatteryRun script.  I would like to get the second display disabled whenever I unplug the cable from the back of my laptop.  Anybody know of something similar to the GetSystemPowerStatus function used in BatteryRun, but for detecting a monitor unplug?  Thanks.