I started using a second monitor recently, and ran into an issue when opening a folder. When I try to open any folder both screens will flash grey and then go back to normal, but the folder won't open. If I try again then the folder will open with no grey flash. If I switch back to just one screen, the same thing will happen, along with all of my icons being rearranged.
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Some weeks ago, I noticed an odd problem with my taskbar.
While using my laptop at home, I use an exterior monitor to extend my desktop, and usually set the monitor as my primary. Occasionally, I would notice that my open apps would appear to be greyed-out (and therefore un-clickable) on my secondary screen. All the pinned apps would be full colour, but would only respond to clicking as if I was starting a new version of the app (e.g. a new browser window rather than switching to the existing one).
It appears as though a second "ghost" taskbar was over top the main one, and only on one screen. This ghost taskbar would block any attempt to click on the taskbar underneath. Unlocking the taskbar and moving it, for example, to the side, would confirm this as the ghost taskbar would drag and snap to the edge, leaving the normal taskbar at the bottom of the (same) screen.
The ghost taskbar would disappear (or perhaps merely move behind the main taskbar) if the taskbar is swapped with the primary screen (causing the tray to move over).
A reload of Windows Explorer via Task Manager seems to be a temporary fix, as is restarting the computer. However, this issue may appear multiple times per session, and within a short time of any reload/restart. This also does not seem to occur when using only the laptop screen.
I do not run any desktop customization software, and have triple-checked for any Windows, Microsoft, or driver updates. I am moderately competent in doing repairs to the computer so long as I have reasonably detailed instructions on how to do the fix.
I have a brand-new HDCP supporting monitor (native resolution 1920 x 1080,) on which I play the latest blu ray movies from the computers built-in blu ray drive, and a 9 year old flat screen non-HD plasma TV (on which I watch You Tube, BBC iPlayer and 4OD, streamed from the PC via a VGA cable,) both connected to my GT610 NVidia graphics card.
It seems I can only get them at the same resolution. My desktop does however have it's own on board graphics processor. Is it possible to run these two devices at different resolutions? (Since the ancient flat screen can only handle resolutions up to 1600 x 1200.)
I'm running 3 external monitors on a Lenovo docked laptop. With Windows 8 it was running perfectly. Since upgrading to from Windows 8 to 8.1, at the most inopportune times, randomly and frequently throughout the work day, everyday, all the monitors will cut out, making the disconnected sound. They will briefly, maybe half a second consolidate all the open windows on the laptop with an illuminated screen, then go black and then all the monitors will turn back on, consolidating all the open windows on the one external monitor set as my default main monitor. Then I will continue working, moving all my windows back to where I want them, and it will randomly do it again, usually when I'm concentrating on something important. It's like it knows!
The same thing has happened with an external projector, though not with all projectors.
I have updated Windows, and all the graphics drivers. And my business partner is having the exact same problem, so it's not isolated to my computer. Windows 8.
So I have been getting Blue screens on and off for a fair time now ( few months ) from once per week to multiple times per day. I have been trying to fix the problem for a fair while but I feel I am getting nowhere in which the frequency of the blue screens doesn't seem to change no matter.
Steps I have taken so far:
- cmd>sfc /scannow: This might have been a culprit to some blue screens. At first when run I would get "corrupt files found but not fixed". After spending some time trying to refresh windows 8.1 and failing (as I only had Windows 8 key), eventually I did a clean install of windows 8 (and still having the same message). I have since acquired a windows 8.1 key and used that to refresh windows, and now the message is from sfc when run is "Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations".
- Windows memory test : So I ran this and had no errors.
- cmd>verifier: I have recently tried that with no crashes ( I think I set it up correctly and when I rebooted it booted normally to windows following steps here : [URL] ....).
- Moved graphics card slot: So I move my graphics card down one slot on my motherboard in case there was a dodgy connection, but this didn't work
I have attached the output from the SF Diagnostic tool and also an additional text file generated from WhoCrashed with some additional information.
I'm trying to keep the windows 8 start screen open on one screen and have the other open to the desktop, but any time I click an app on the desktop the 2nd screen with the Windows 8 start screen minimizes. Is there any way to change this behavior?
View 3 Replies View RelatedI have two screens and my current settings are: I got my taskbar on both screens with the opened windows in it's own taskbar.
This is good, but I just miss one thing: I can't attach a program/shortcut to the taskbar that is not my main screen/taskbar.
So I have to go to my main screen to open a program from my taskbar.
I want to know how to create bootable flashdrive with multiple O.S???,so that when I want to install O.S i choose which one I will install, I only know how to create bootable one O.S in flashdrive.
View 8 Replies View RelatedI have just rebuilt my PC and decided to make the jump from Windows XP to Windows 8. The jump has not been smooth, but it looks like I have ironed out my biggest problem (incorrect installation due to not creating a system partition therefore Windows 8 = no DVD, no boot; rookie error).
Now I am stuck with an issue - windows detects my only screen as more than one. Sometimes it thinks I have two, more often it thinks I have 3 or 4. Installing the current nVidia drivers did not work.
What I have at the moment is 2 generic non-PnP monitors and 2 generic PnP monitors detected, according to device manager. nVidia control panel calls them Dell SX2210, VGA display, (i can't recall the 3rd one, I'm on my laptop now), and TV. Windows display setup calls two of the SX2210, and the other two are either generic non-PnP or PnP monitors. In nVidia control panel it looks as though I have a clone setup (2 screens enabled) with the Dell SX2210 and the VGA display. In windows display setup it looks as though I have a clone setup (2 screens enabled) with Dell SX2210 and generic monitor.
I have repeatedly unchecked the secondary monitors in both nVidia control panel and windows display setup, leaving me with what should be a single monitor arrangement and 3 disabled monitors. This works until I restart my computer, which then reverts back to what it was before. This is OK as a workaround most of the time, but sometimes when I boot up the computer it detects the wrong screen as the primary and I get a monitor which goes to power save mode. The solution to this is Win Key + P and change the display selection while blind, which works now I know how. Sometimes my screen will refresh (installing programs or drivers) and I get the same result. Detect displays also results in no signal to my monitor.
Currently using DVI from the graphics card to DVI on the monitor.
System specs:
CPU: Intel 3570K (stock clock)
MB: ASRock Extreme4 Z77
RAM: 4 x 4GB 2133 GSkill
VIDEO: Gigabyte GTX260 OC
MONITOR: Dell SX2210 @ 1920 x 1080
OS: Windows 8 64bit
*Yes I know the 260 is an older card, it has come from my old system for economics reasons (to be upgraded later), but it was working perfect on that machine.
In a few weeks (I can't wait! ) I will replace my laptop with the Surface Pro.
Right now, though, I have my laptop connected to two monitors: One via VGA and other via DVI. I'm running Windows 8 Pro x64, so this all works great.
So the big question is whether it is possible to have multi-monitor support via the one-and-only DisplayPort that is on the Surface Pro? If so, what--if any--additional hardware would I need?
When I'm docked at home and using my Surface Pro as laptop, I really need to keep the functionality of using both external monitors (one is 31" and the other 29"). I would really hate to go back to only being able to use one.
Every time I put in my flash drive I go to computer and it won't show my flash drive. The computer makes a sound every time I put in my flash drive or take it out but I can't find where to open up the files from my flash drive. It shows up on devices and printers but it doesn't on computer. How do I open my files from it?
View 3 Replies View RelatedWhen I plug one of my flash drives into my USB port I get this message F:/is not accessible The request could not be performed because of an I/O device error. I tried a few of the methods I found on the Net but nothing worked.
View 2 Replies View RelatedYet another lovely problem with 8.1. When I plug in my drive, it shows up in with all of my other drives, and when I double click it to open it, the explorer window freezes, and doesn't unfreeze until I unplug the flash drive. I don't know what went wrong. Maybe it is a driver issue? I am positive that the drive is fine, because it works on my laptop, and even works on this computer in a linux virtual machine.
View 9 Replies View RelatedI have a fairly new (bought in December) Dell Inspiron/Windows 8 that is used mainly by my kids to play games. It's minimally loaded- Windows Office, Adobe and generally starts up fast. Today they report to me that "something is wrong." On start up all I get is a grey screen. I tried F2 and F10 - no response. Doesn't even respond to Control/Alt/delete. I've searched the forums and the only thing that seems to come close is that they have possibly enlarged a split screen somehow so it's hiding everything else- but what to do? It has to get to Windows to do that, and we're not there yet.
View 2 Replies View RelatedIs there any way in doing this automatically without right click> open in a new window and when you click on diferent folders for the current open one not closing?
View 9 Replies View RelatedI just had to reformat my hard drive and when I did I went ahead and updated to windows 8.1. I have everything set back up the way I like but I can't get the start menu to always open on my secondary monitor. I can set it to open on whatever monitor I'm currently using, but I only want it to open on the one specific monitor that ISN'T my main display.
I've tried using windows key + shift + arrows and that moves the start menu to the right monitor, but only that time. When I reopen it, it just pops up on my main display.
I've tried clicking on the bottom left of the second monitor and opening the start menu, but when I hit the windows key again it opens it on the main monitor.
Is there any way to link directories on several DIFFERENT HDD's to the SAME top directory / library.
Trying a Multi-media server with video files on HDD1, HDD2, HDD3.
What I want is to say create a top level directory videos, then under that directories video1, video2 and video3,so my application which says Multi-media folder -- I could point to directory videos -- then I'd get the 3 folders as part of the top level directory.
(Using Spanned disks can work but I'd rather not go down that route these days as the 3 disks I want to use are EXTERNAL HDD's and spanned disks need ALL the drives to be available and if there's any error you lose THE LOT. !!! )
With Linux it's easy -- just create 4 directories in your /home folder say /mnt/videos as top level, then in this directory create 3 sub directories /mnt/videos1, /mnt/videos2, mnt/videos 3
then mount the devices /dev/sdb1, /dev/sdb2, /devsdb3 in /mnt/videos1, mnt/videos2, mnt/videos3
then browsing your home directory with mnt/videos you'll see all the data files in the 3 directories from all 3 HDD's -- no matter what their size, -- you only need a FEW BYTES too in your home directory !!. You don't actually copy or move any data from the HDD's to these directories. Things like search are great too since you point the search at the top level directory and the system will scan all the sub directories (so all 3 disks) too.
A lot of multi-media type programs seem only to handle ONE top level folder so when the HDD is full you are stuffed -- maybe limitations of the windows file system. I've seen somewhere that you can use some type of links if you have multiple devices but can't find it.
How does a NAS device handle multiple HDD's within the server.
The old library feature was half way there but in Windows 8.1 that feature seems to have GONE.
After it was removed from 8 . I managed to get it back into the Library but seems impossible for This PC.
It's a good, safe way to share files between multiple users on a PC .
Is there a way to make Windows 8 remember what screen you closed a program on and open it in that window? Right now, I have most of the stuff I open pinned to the task bar. How it opens now is what ever monitor I click on the program in, it opens it in that monitor. I understand the logic on that, but I was wondering if there was a way to make programs always open on a specific monitor. I.e. I always have outlook on my monitor clear to the left, visual studio in the middle, and my browser on the right. Is there a way to force those programs to always open on that monitor, regardless of which task bar I click on?
View 4 Replies View RelatedI'm having a little issue with my Screen Setup and I was wondering if there's a fix to that.
I recently upgraded from to Photoshop CC after seeing a YouTube Video with someone working on the same Wacom Cintiq 24HD Touch I have using the newly introduced Experimental Touch features of PS CC.
Turns out it didn't worked THAT well on mine.
Panning, Zooming and Rotation in PS CC is totally screwed like the axis of them being totally off or outside my Screen and thus causing my Workspace to vanish off screen which is REALLY annoying.
Working with the Issue for a while I noticed that the issue could be related to me using multiple Monitors unlike the Video which only used one and the Cintiq with the Touch Interface NOT being either the center or rather the Main Monitor of the Setup.
Having the Cintiq not as the Main Monitor causes Photoshop CC to relocate the Rotational, Zoom and Move Axis to the Main Monitor and thus cause this agonizing behavior.With the Cintiq now set as the Main Monitor every Metro App I use ( including the Start Screen ) opens out of my normal Field of View.Is there a setting that allows me to keep the Cintiq ( 2 ) to be the Main Monitor because of Photoshop while having Metro Apps open by default on the Center Monitor ( 1 ) ?
I do know that hitting the Windows button in the Task bar will open the Start Screen on the screen it was hit and all Metro Apps opened from there will also open on the now active screen but working like this is kind of cumbersome as I prefer to use a Mouse button ( or the Keyboard Windows Key ) with the Windows Key assigned and there it just doesn't work like I want.
Problem I'm having with windows 8.1.1 .... When I'm using Firefox or Chrome and visiting for example [URL] .....
My Metro store automatic open and I feel that this action is just wrong.
How to disable this Metro Microsoft Store from monitor my URL's and auto opening it in Metro ....
I have a bunch of folders in the File Explorer that I would like to copy the names to a word or excel document instead of retyping them individually. Is there a way to do that?
View 4 Replies View RelatedPossible to open multiple instances of the desktop app or if there are any third party applications which could add such functionality. I would like to use the built in side by side app feature but for programs running in the desktop so I can have something like notepad++ or visual studio open on the left side of the screen and have a steam or twitch chat open on the right so I can free up my second monitor for full screen viewing of videos/games/websites. I know I can do this by resizing the windows manually but it is very clunky and harder to manage when I want to close a program or open new applications.
View 9 Replies View RelatedI have Adobe Reader 11.06 installed. I can open a single pdf perfectly well from Explorer, but when I double click on a second pdf to open it, nothing happens (it doesn't open). This only happens when I already have one instance of Adobe Reader open - opening the first pdf works just fine. And if I close the first one, I can open the other file (I just can't open them simultaneously). Opening a second file from Adobe Reader's open file dialogue also works fine.
After some investigation, it seems that when I open multiple PDFs on my SSD (which Windows is installed to), it works perfectly. It only runs into issues when opening PDFs located on another hard drive, which is an issue for me because my Dropbox folder is hosted on a separate hard drive.
All you have to do is disable security measures in Adobe Reader XI (Edit -> Preferences -> Security (Enhanced) -> Sandbox Protection -> Enable Protected Mode at startup -> turn off).
I'm setting up a new Dell with W-8 Home. I'm trying to open the Group Policy to edit not asking for password when restoring from "Monitor" turned off. Already stopped it on logon. Attached is the message I get either from Run or the cmd prompt.
View 3 Replies View RelatedWhenever I go to open my Explorer folder or if I haven't opened it in a while it is very slow to open. Takes maybe 5-10s to open up when normally it used to be instant.
This is the folder I am talking about if there are any confusion: View image: Explorer
I cannot find how to open root folder instead of the libraries folder. It seems the way I did it in Win7 will not work.
View 8 Replies View RelatedMy Dell XPS 8700 runs 4 displays. How do I set up my Folder Options so that one particular folder will open up in a particular display everytime when I open it. Every time I open a new folder, it opens up in the display/area where the last folder is/was opened. I had no problem about this in Windows XP.
View 2 Replies View Related I'm getting this problem since like 2 days ago. I'm trying to open my Music folder on my desktop or my whole D drive (with tons of items on it like game installations, music, pictures etc.) but the window that opens is empty and writes in it "This folder is empty". The address bar keeps loading and if I leave it loading (green bar filling), it stops right before the end and the window freezes. When I then click on the window a few times, the whole explorer.exe crashes and restarts, closing the window...
I can't acces the documents on my D drive. When I search for anything on the drive, it finds it and I can use it (pictures open, songs play). So the files are actually there but just aren't loading. I've made sure that the files are not hidden and I've already scanned for malware.
I have a PC with Windows 8.1 and a Mac with Mavericks. I have a folder on the Mac that is shared with the PC. When I'm on the PC and I try to open a file that is shared by the Mac, such as an ISO file (a disk image), then I get a message saying that I cannot open the file, or the file is in use (it depends on the app/filetype). I have the same problem when I open a video file. Strangely, text files and PDF files are just fine. And if I copy any of the problematic files to the local Windows disk, then I can open them just fine.
The specific error messages are:
- AVI files opened in VLC: "Your input can't be opened. VLC is unable to open the MRL."
- ISO files opened by Windows Explorer: "Sorry, there was a problem mounting the file."
This only started happening after I upgraded to Windows 8.1 on the PC and Mavericks on the Mac. Mavericks upgraded its SMB version from SMB1 to SMB2, so perhaps that is related?
I built a computer recently. Since day one I get BSODs but the drivers, and Bug/Checks listed are never the same.I was thinking it couldn't be a single device or driver so I've:
Replaced the MOBO.
Repair Installed the OS.
Replaced the RAM.
It BSOD'd multiple times between each change.
The only things I've run are IE/FF and Ableton Live 9. Ableton is usually running during the BSOD but it was not the last time.
