OfficeOne: PowerViewer

The support for multiple monitors was introduced with Windows 98. PowerViewer is supported on Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows Me and Microsoft Windows 98.

Can I store the selections that I have made in the PowerViewer for future use?

Yes. To save the selections, click the Save Settings... button after configuring various settings in PowerViewer. You will be prompted to provide the file name in which the settings will be saved. PowerViewer stores the settings in a file with the extension .pssv.

The stored settings include the full path to the selected presentations.

How do I use the saved settings?

The saved settings can be recalled using Load Settings... button. You will be prompted with a dialog box to provide the file name that has the stored PowerViewer settings.

I have more than one monitor connected to my machine. But PowerViewer reports only one monitor. What could be the problem?

Its actually Windows that it seeing only one monitor! There are a couple of possibilities that could be causing the problem.

Possibility 1:

Windows isn't configured to use the other monitor. This is the most commonly encountered problem. Follow these steps to configure Windows to use the other monitor:

Go to Display Properties dialog box by selecting Start | Settings | Control Panel menu item and launching Display applet.
Go to the Settings tab.
Click on monitor 2 and check against the Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor check box as shown below.
Click OK.

Possibility 2:

The display isn't configured for true multi-monitor mode. Visit here to configure your machine for true multi-monitor mode. A detailed discussion on true multi-monitor mode is available here.

What does it mean when you say the machine has multi-monitor support?

Click on the following links to know more about multi-monitor feature:

Multi-monitor concepts: A brief tutorial that explains the concepts involved in multi-monitor feature.
Multi-monitor website: A website dedicated to multiple monitors.
A brief note on how to configure multi-monitor support in Windows XP at Microsoft website: Expand Your Workspace with Multiple Monitors and Dualview

Who manufactures multi-monitor cards?

The following vendors manufacture multi-monitor cards:

Matrox: Matrox manufactures true dual-head cards - Millennium G450, Millennium G550, Matrox Parhelia.
NVidia: NVidia's MX and Go series of graphic cards have multi-monitor features. GeForce2 and GeForce4 both have MX and Go variants.
Appian Graphics: Appian Rushmore and Appian Hurricane.

My laptop doesn't seem to support multiple displays. Do I have any option other than changing the laptop?

Many modern laptops support dual monitor functions without extra hardware. If it doesn't have in-built support, a PCMCIA graphic card can be plugged into the laptop. The PCMCIA graphic card will fit into the laptop's PCMCIA slot and can be connected to another monitor. PowerViewer can use this monitor as a second monitor.

The following vendors manufacture PCMCIA graphic cards:

Village Tronic: VTBook
Margi: The Display-to-Go. Discontinued.
Appian Graphics: Traveler PCMCIA. Discontinued.