How To Set Up Your External Screen & Change The Display Settings

At Strictly Savvy we often use a second screen connected to our computers to help us in our daily work, allowing us to have multiple tabs open and visible at one time.

To set up your external screen, start by connecting your laptop and screen with either an HDMI cable or an Analog cable - what you use will depend on your laptop and the screen you are connecting to. Once your laptop and screen are connected you can use both screens, or just use the external screen, as shown in the processes below.

You may find that only one of your screens may show up, or that they are not aligned and the mouse isn't able to move between the devices in the same way as your set up. The instructions below show you how to change your settings.

Extending Your Display

You may find that only one of your screens may show up, or that they are not aligned and the mouse isn't able to move between the devices in the same way as your normal set up. This process shows you what to do if only one of your screens is showing up:

1. Open up Settings from your Taskbar or Start tab (You can also right click anywhere on your desktop and select Display Settings from the pop up)

2. Select Systems > Display

3. Click on the drop down under Multiple Displays and select Extend these displays if you would like to use both screens, or select Show only on 1 or Show only on 2 if you only want to use one of them

4. If you are going to use both screens then you need to select which one you would like as your main display. Simply click on which screen you'd like as your display (either 1 or 2) and scroll down and tick Make this my main display

5. From here you will need to change the display layout as shown in the instructions below

Changing Your Display Layout

This process shows you how to change your display layout to match your desk set up:

1. Open up Settings from your Taskbar or Start tab (You can also right click anywhere on your desktop and select Display Settings from the pop up)

2. Select Systems > Display

3. Display 1 represents your laptop, and display 2 is your main screen. Click on your laptop (1) and drag it to whichever side you have it on in relation to the main screen (2) - for example in the pic below, the laptop is to the right of the main screen and slightly lower than it

4. Once you think you have it right, move your mouse from your laptop to the main screen and back. Adjust the display picture as required to ensure that the mouse moves smoothly from one to the other