Dual Monitor Tools Editor's Review

Designers, architects, programmers and even network administrators need at least two monitors to performs their job. If you find yourself in one of these positions or you are a simple home user with the need of an enhanced desktop on more than one monitor, you can easily choose to use the open source package called Dual Monitor Tools.

Dual Monitor Tools is a collection of five different applications that provide extra features for a dual screen desktop setup. No installation required for any of the applications, and most of them run in the system tray so don't worry about high resources usage. With DisMon you can enable or disable any of the monitors and change the primary screen. The whole application has a single window interface from which you can choose any of the four setups available.

Dual Launcher is actually an applications launcher based on keyboard shortcuts and sets of words. You can set a word that will correspond to a certain application that will be opened in a given position on each of the two monitors. The app has a drag'n'drop system implemented with the help of which you can select the desired application and its startup position.

DualSnap is a basic tool that can take snapshots of your monitors and display them automatically. As an addition to this one, DualWallpaper can manage pictures to be used as wallpapers on each monitor or a single one across the screens. SwapScreen is the last application that completes the whole set, a very handful one which enables you to set several window management actions on both of your monitors. You can assign a hotkey for maximize or minimize a window, for moving a window from one screen to another, and other cursor motion rules.

Pluses: free, easy to use, no installation required, wide range of hotkey setups, runs in system tray;

Drawbacks/flaws: functionality issues for DisMon on Windows 7;

In conclusion: In case you are not using a multi-monitor hub adapter, Dual Monitor Tools can be the software solution for managing two or more monitors on a single desktop system.

version reviewed: 1.7