Nvidia nView 2.0 Desktop Manager Version 45.23 for Windows User's Guide
Detonator FX Drivers
nView Desktop Manager 2.0
User’s Guide
Version 45.23 for Windows
NVIDIA Corporation
August 2003
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Published by
NVIDIA Corporation
2701 San Tomas Expressway
Santa Clara, CA 95050
Copyright © 2003 NVIDIA Corporation. All rights reserved.
This software may not, in whole or in part, be copied through any means, mechanical, electromechanical, or
otherwise, without the express permission of NVIDIA Corporation.
Information furnished is believed to be accurate and reliable. However, NVIDIA assumes no responsibility for the
consequences of use of such information nor for any infringement of patents or other rights of third parties, which
may result from its use. No License is granted by implication or otherwise under any patent or patent rights of
NVIDIA Corporation.
Specifications mentioned in the software are subject to change without notice.
NVIDIA Corporation products are not authorized for use as critical components in life support devices or systems
without express written approval of NVIDIA Corporation.
NVIDIA, the NVIDIA logo, GeForce, nForce, nView, NVKeystone, Quadro, RIVA, TNT, TNT2, and Vanta are
registered trademarks or trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
Intel and Pentium are registered trademarks of Intel. DirectX, Microsoft, Microsoft Internet Explorer logo, Outlook,
PowerPoint, Windows, Windows logo, Windows NT, and/or other Microsoft products referenced in this guide are
either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries. OpenGL is a
registered trademark of Silicon Graphics Inc.
Other company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of the respective owners with which
they are associated.
NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Table of Contents
1. Introduction
About this Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Other Related Documentation . . . . . . . . . 1
nView vs. NVIDIA Display Properties . . . . . . . 2
Why do I need Desktop Management? . . . . . . 3
About nView Desktop Manager . . . . . . . . . . 3
Multi-Display Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Single-Display Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
nView Desktop Manager Properties Panel . . 4
New Features and Enhancements . . . . . . . 6
Feature Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . 6
New Features . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Key Terms and Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
child window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
desktop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
dual-card configuration . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
GPU . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
keystoning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
modal dialog box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
modeless dialog box . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
multiple-card configuration . . . . . . . . . . 10
multi-display configuration . . . . . . . . . . 10
parent window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
properties panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
single-display configuration . . . . . . . . . 10
skin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
window class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Features and Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Windows Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Desktops Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Application Management . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Profiles Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
User Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Zoom, Hot Keys, and Other Features . . . . . 15
Setup Wizard and Online Help . . . . . . . . . 16
Application Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Examples of Incompatible Applications . . . . 16
Skinning Utilities: Known Issues . . . . . . . . 17
System Requirements and Support . . . . . . . . 17
Operating Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Disk Space . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
English . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Localized (non-English languages) . . . . 18
Software: NVIDIA Display Driver . . . . . . . 19
Optional Software: Internet Explorer . . . . . 19
Optional: System Administrator Access
Privileges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Hardware: Supported NVIDIA Products . . . 19
Multi-Display Configuration: Tips and
Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Multi-Display Mode and Feature Support . . . 21
Supported Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Languages Supported in the nView Desktop
Manager Properties Pane. . . . . . . . . . 22
Languages Supported in the nView Desktop
Manager Online Help . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
2. Driver Installation And
Uninstallation
Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
About nView Desktop Manager Installation . . . 24
File Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Preserving Desktop Manager Settings Before
Upgrading Your Software . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Uninstalling the NVIDIA Display Driver Software 26
3. Using nView Multi-Display
Modes:
Dualview vs. Span/Clone
nView Dualview vs. Span and Clone Modes. . . 27
nView Dualview Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Key Features of nView Dualview Mode . . . . 30
Enabling nView Dualview Mode for the First
Time: Windows 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Enabling (Turning on) the Secondary Display
(Windows 2000) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Enabling nView Dualview Mode After Initial
Session: Windows 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Activating nView Dualview Mode: Windows XP .
38
Activating nView Dualview Mode: Windows 9x .
41
Enabling (Turning on) the Secondary Display
(Windows 9x) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
nView Span and Clone Modes. . . . . . . . . . . 45
NVIDIA Corporation i
User’s Guide Table of Contents
Key Features of nView Span Mode. . . . . . . 45
Enabling nView Span/Clone Modes . . . . . . 47
Enabling nView Span/Clone Modes:
Windows 2000. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Enabling nView Span/Clone Modes: Windows
XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Enabling nView Clone Mode: Windows 9x . . 52
Enabling nView Modes: Windows NT 4.0 . . . . . 55
nView Multiview Mode: Windows NT 4.0. . 55
nView Span/Clone Modes . . . . . . . . . . 56
Multi-Display Mode: Arranging Displays on the
Windows Display Properties Settings Panel . . 56
4. Info Panel:
Accessing and Enabling nView
Desktop Manager Properties
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Enabling Desktop Manager from the Setup Wizard
62
Automatic Startup of Wizard. . . . . . . . . . . 62
Accessing nView Desktop Manager Properties from
the Windows Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Enabling nView Desktop Manager from the Info
Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Enabling /Accessing Desktop Manager from the
Desktop Utilities Panel and the Desktop Menu .66
Enabling the Media Center Icon . . . . . . . . . . 68
Using the Media Center Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Accessing Windows Display Properties Settings.70
Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
5. Using the Desktop Manager
Setup Wizard
About the Setup Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Starting the Setup Wizard. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Multi-Display vs. Single-Display Setup. . . . . 73
Manually Starting the Wizard . . . . . . . . . . 73
Starting the Wizard From the Windows
Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Starting the Wizard from the nView Desktop
Manager Info Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Using the Setup Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
6. Working With Profiles
About Profiles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Benefits of Using Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Accessing the Profiles Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
List of Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Current Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Loading a Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Creating a Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Saving a Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Deleting a Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Include Display Settings in Profile Loads and Saves
88
Copying Profiles for Use on Another Computer . 89
7. Managing Windows
About Windows Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Accessing the Windows Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Windows Management Options . . . . . . . . . . 91
Window Control Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Enable Window Spanning Across Displays. . 92
Enable child window spanning across
displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Show full-desktop maximize option on title
bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Show single-display max button on title bar93
Limit taskbar to a single display . . . . . . 94
Dialog Box Control Options . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Enable Dialog Box Repositioning . . . . . . . 94
Center on monitor n . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Center on cursor’s monitor . . . . . . . . . 94
Locate on application’s monitor . . . . . . 94
8. Using Effects
About Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Accessing the Effects Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Window Drawing Enhancements . . . . . . . . . 97
Make Windows Minimize and Maximize Faster .
97
Automatically Activate Windows Under Cursor .
97
Make Windows Transparent When Dragged. 97
Enable Drop-down Menu Transparency . . . 97
Enable Taskbar Transparency . . . . . . . . . 97
Transparency Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Windows Color Keying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Enable Windows Color Keying . . . . . . . . . 98
Manipulating Color-Keyed Windows Using
Hot Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Automatically Assign Colors to Windows . 98
Colored Application Window Borders . . . . . 100
9. Using Zoom Options
About Zoom Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101
Accessing the Zoom Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102
Zoom Features: Display Properties vs. Desktop
Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104
ii NVIDIA Corporation
User’s Guide Table of Contents
Zoom Window Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Magnifying Glass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Centered on Cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Fixed Frame. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Use the Mouse Wheel to Change Zoom Levels 105
Show Cursor in Zoom Window . . . . . . . . . . 105
Automatically Move Zoom Window to Next Screen
105
Enable Bi-Directional Editing . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Enable Zoom of Video Playback (disables overlay)
106
Show Zoom Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Zoom Window Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Zoom Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Zoom Refresh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Zoom Style. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
Using Cursor Style Zoom . . . . . . . . . 109
Using Magnifying Glass Style Zoom . . . 110
Using Fixed Frame Zoom . . . . . . . . . 112
Video Mirroring Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
10. Using Hot Keys
About Hot Key Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
Accessing the Hot Keys Tab . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Selecting an Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Description of Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Adding a Hot Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Examples of Actions Requiring Additional
Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
“Move window to monitor…”. . . . . . . . 120
“Show Color-Keyed window” . . . . . . . 120
Removing a Hot Key. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Removing All Hot Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Active Hot Keys List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
11. Using the User Interface
Options
About User Interface Options . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Accessing the User Interface Tab . . . . . . . . 124
General Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Enable nView Options in Desktop Right-click
Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Show Notification Messages on Taskbar . . 125
Enable nView Task Switcher . . . . . . . . . 125
Windows and Applications Options . . . . . . . 125
About the nView Button Bar on an Application
Title Bar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
About the nView Options Menu . . . . . . . . 127
Enable “Collapse to Title Bar” Button . . . . 127
Add nView Options to System Menus. . . . .128
Enable nView Menu Options Title Bar Button129
nView Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129
nView Menu: Description of Options . . . . .131
Maximize to Monitor/Desktop. . . . . . . .131
Send window to. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Send application to . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131
Transparent (alpha blended) . . . . . . . .132
Always on top . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132
Visible on all desktops. . . . . . . . . . . . 132
Collapse to desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . .132
Individual Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132
Individual Settings: Clear all . . . . . . . .134
Individual Settings: Other Methods of
Clearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .134
Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .134
About this app… . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .134
Application-specific nView Menu Options . 134
Internet Explorer Options . . . . . . . . . . . .135
PowerPoint Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135
Multiple Desktops Options . . . . . . . . . . . . .136
Show Desktop Name When Switching . . . .136
Enable Desktop Explorer Shell Extension . .136
12. Managing Desktops
About Desktops Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . .138
Accessing the Desktops Tab . . . . . . . . . . . .139
Notes Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Desktops List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140
Creating Desktops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141
Using the “Add” Option . . . . . . . . . . .141
Activating or Switching Desktops . . . . . . . . . 142
Activating Desktops from the NVIDIA Media
Center Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Activating Desktops From the Windows
Desktop Properties Menu . . . . . . . . . . 143
Activating Desktops from Desktop Explorer .
143
Activating Desktops With Hot Keys . . . .144
Renaming Desktops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Removing Desktops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .144
Properties: Changing Wallpaper and Desktop Icons
144
Selecting a Background for the Desktop . . .146
Selecting Separate Backgrounds Per Display . .
146
Selecting a Desktop Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Using Desktop Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Creating Desktops from Desktop Explorer . .148
NVIDIA Corporation iii
User’s Guide Table of Contents
Renaming, Deleting, and Activating Desktops
from Desktop Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Enhancing the Desktop Explorer “Thumbnails”
View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Using the Thumbnail Styles . . . . . . . . . . 150
Moving Applications Between Desktops or to a
New Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Accessing Other Application Settings from
Desktop Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Advanced User Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Add to Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Remove from Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
13. Using Tools Options
About Tools Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Accessing the Tools Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Display Quality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Enable NVKeystone Display Correction . . . 158
Enable NVKeystone Option in Desktop Menu .
159
Show Flat Panel Calibration Screen . . . . . 159
Windows Utilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Automatically Align Displays . . . . . . . . . 160
NVKeystone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Accessing NVKeystone . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
NVKeystone Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
NVKeystone Adjustment Screen . . . . . 161
NVKeystone Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
14. Managing Applications:
For Advanced Users
Accessing the Applications Tab . . . . . . . . . 165
Using the Applications Options . . . . . . . . . . 166
Window Class. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Adding an Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Removing an Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Disabling an nView Desktop Manager Function 169
Individual Application Settings . . . . . . . . . . 169
Launch Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
iv NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
List of Tables
Table 1.1 Operating System Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Table 1.2 Supported NVIDIA Products . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Table 1.3 Multi-Display Mode and Feature Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
NVIDIA Corporation v
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
List of Figures
Figure 1.1 Windows 2000 Control Panel with nView Desktop Manager Option. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Figure 1.2 nView Desktop Manager Properties: Info Panel (default). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Figure 1.3 nVIew Desktop Manager Properties: Info Panel After Enabling Desktop Manager . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Figure 1.4 nVIew Desktop Manager Properties: Info Panel After Enabling Desktop Manager Advanced Options . 6
Figure 3.1 NVIDIA Media Center Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Figure 3.2 nView Span/Clone Modes Unavailable in Dualview Mode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Figure 3.3 nView Span/Cone Modes Available when Dualview Disabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Figure 3.4 Multiple Display Devices in nView Dualview Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Figure 3.5 NVIDIA Desktop Utilities Panel: Enabling Dualview in Windows 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Figure 3.6 Restart Now Message: Enabling Dualview in Windows 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Figure 3.7 Dualview Installation Messages: Windows 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Figure 3.8 Display Properties Settings: Dualview Mode (Windows 2000). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
Figure 3.9 First Appearance of the NVIDIA GPU Tab (Windows 2000). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Figure 3.10 First Appearance of the Media Center Menu: Windows 2000. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Figure 3.11 nView Span/Clone Modes Unavailable in Dualview Mode: Windows 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Figure 3.12 Display Properties Settings: Dualview Preparation (Windows 2000) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Figure 3.13 Windows XP Display Settings in Dualview Mode (Display 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Figure 3.14 Windows XP Display Settings in Dualview Mode (Display 2 attached) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Figure 3.15 First Appearance of the NVIDIA GPU tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Figure 3.16 nView Span/Clone Options Unavailable Under Dualview Mode (Win XP). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Figure 3.17 Display Settings: Windows 9x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Figure 3.18 Enabling Dualview (1): Windows 9x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Figure 3.19 Enabling Dualview (2): Windows 9x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Figure 3.20 First Appearance of the NVIDIA GPU Tab: Windows 9x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Figure 3.21 NVIDIA Media Center Menu in Dualview Mode: Windows 9x. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Figure 3.22 Multiple Displays in nView Horizontal Span Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Figure 3.23 Windows 2000 Display Properties Settings in nView Span/Clone Mode (Dualview disabled) . . . 48
Figure 3.24 First Appearance of the NVIDIA GPU Tab: Windows 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Figure 3.25 NVIDIA Media Center Menu: Windows 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Figure 3.26 nView Clone/Span Modes Available: Windows 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Figure 3.27 Disabling Dualview Mode: Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Figure 3.28 First Appearance of the NVIDIA GPU tab: Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Figure 3.29 NVIDIA Media Center Menu: Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Figure 3.30 nView Clone/Span Modes Available: Windows XP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Figure 3.31 Disabling Dualview: Windows 9x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Figure 3.32 First Appearance of the NVIDIA GPU tab: Windows 9x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
NVIDIA Corporation vi
User’s Guide List of Figures
Figure 3.33 NVIDIA Media Center Menu: Windows 9x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Figure 3.34 nView Clone Mode Available: Windows 9x . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Figure 3.35 Display Settings (Horizontal) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Figure 3.36 Display Settings (Vertical) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Figure 3.37 Display Settings (Diagonal) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Figure 4.1 Desktop Manager Enabled: nView Properties on Desktop Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Figure 4.2 Info Panel After Enabling Desktop Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Figure 4.3 Info Panel Before Desktop Manager is Enabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Figure 4.4 Info Panel After Enabling Desktop Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Figure 4.5 Desktop Manager Enabled: nView Properties on Desktop Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Figure 4.6 Info Panel After Enabling Desktop Manager Advanced Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Figure 4.7 Desktop Utilities: Enabling Desktop Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Figure 4.8 Desktop Manager Enabled: nView Properties on Desktop Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Figure 4.9 Desktop Manager Disabled: nView Properties Removed from Desktop Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Figure 4.10 Desktop Utilities: Enabling the Media Center Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Figure 4.11 NVIDIA Media Center Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Figure 4.12 NVIDIA Media Center Icon: nView Desktop Manager Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
Figure 4.13 Info Panel: Accessing Windows Display Properties Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Figure 5.1 Info Panel (default) Before Desktop Manager is Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Figure 5.2 Info Panel After Desktop Manager is Enabled) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Figure 5.3 nView Desktop Manager Wizard: Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Figure 5.4 nView Desktop Manager Wizard: Features Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Figure 5.5 nView Desktop Manager Wizard: Using Desktop Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Figure 5.6 nView Desktop Manager Wizard: Loading and Using a Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Figure 5.7 nView Desktop Manager Wizard: Window Spanning Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Figure 5.8 nView Desktop Manager Wizard: Dialog Repositioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Figure 5.9 nView Desktop Manager Wizard: nView Menu Extension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Figure 5.10 nView Desktop Manager Wizard: Number of Desktops (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Figure 5.11 nView Desktop Manager Wizard: Number of Desktops (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Figure 5.12 nView Desktop Manager Wizard: Desktop Names . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Figure 5.13 nView Desktop Manager Wizard: Turning on the Explorer Extension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Figure 5.14 nView Desktop Manager Wizard: Window Effects (Transparency) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Figure 5.15 nView Desktop Manager Wizard: Fast Windows Maximize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Figure 5.16 nView Desktop Manager Wizard: Completing Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Figure 5.17 Desktop Explorer Prompt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Figure 5.18 Desktop Explorer Extension in Windows Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Figure 6.1 nView Desktop Manager Properties: Profiles Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Figure 7.1 nView Desktop Manager Properties: Windows Panel (Dualview mode) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Figure 7.2 nView Desktop Manager Properties: Windows Panel (nView Span mode). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
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Figure 7.3 Application Title Bar nView Maximize Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
Figure 8.1 nView Desktop Manager Properties: Effects Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Figure 8.2 nView Desktop Manager Effects: Color Key Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Figure 8.3 nView Desktop Manager Effects: Sample Colored Application Window Borders . . . . . . . . . . .100
Figure 9.1 Desktop Manager Properties: Zoom Panel (Center on cursor) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .102
Figure 9.2 Desktop Manager Properties: Zoom Panel (Magnifying glass) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Figure 9.3 Desktop Manager Properties: Zoom Panel (Fixed Frame) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Figure 9.4 Zoom Level Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108
Figure 9.5 Zoom Refresh Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108
Figure 9.6 Zoom Style Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109
Figure 9.7 Cursor Style Zoom Window (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Figure 9.8 Cursor Style Zoom Window (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
Figure 9.9 Cursor Style Zoomed Area in Zoom Window. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
Figure 9.10 Magnifying Glass Style Zoom Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Figure 9.11 Magnifying Glass Style Zoom Window Over Zoom Area. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Figure 9.12 Magnifying Glass Style Zoomed Area in Zoom Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Figure 9.13 Zoom Window-Fixed Frame Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Figure 9.14 Magnified Area in Zoom Window ( Zoom Window - Fixed Frame Window is Hidden) . . . . . . .113
Figure 10.1 nView Desktop Manager Properties: Hot Keys Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Figure 10.2 Hot Keys Properties Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
Figure 10.3 Hot Keys Properties Dialog Box: for “Move window to monitor…” Action . . . . . . . . . . . . .120
Figure 10.4 Hot Keys Properties Dialog Box: for “Show Color-Keyed window” Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Figure 10.5 nView Desktop Manager Properties: Active Hot Keys List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122
Figure 11.1 nView Desktop Manager Properties: User Interface Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Figure 11.2 nView Desktop Manager Button Bar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126
Figure 11.3 Window Appearance Using the “Collapse to Title Bar Button” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .127
Figure 11.4 Using “nView Options” to Access the nView Desktop Manager Options Menu . . . . . . . . . . .128
Figure 11.5 Accessing the nView Desktop Manager Options Menu Using the nView Options Menu Button . .129
Figure 11.6 nView Menu Options Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Figure 11.7 Individual Application Settings Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133
Figure 11.8 nView Options for Internet Explorer (6.0 or later version) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135
Figure 11.9 Desktop Explorer Nodes in Windows Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137
Figure 12.1 nView Desktop Manager Properties: Desktops Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .139
Figure 12.2 nView Desktop Manager Properties: Desktops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141
Figure 12.3 NVIDIA Media Center Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142
Figure 12.4 Accessing Desktops Through the Media Center Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143
Figure 12.5 Accessing Desktops From the Properties Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .143
Figure 12.6 Desktop Properties: Changing Desktop Wallpaper (single-display) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Figure 12.7 Desktop Properties: Changing Desktop Wallpaper (multi-display) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145
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Figure 12.8 Desktop Explorer: Main Pop-up Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148
Figure 12.9 Entering a Desktop Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148
Figure 12.10 Desktop Explorer: Desktop Pop-up Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .149
Figure 12.11 Desktop Explorer: nView Desktop Thumbnails Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
Figure 12.12 Desktop Explorer: “Send to Desktop n” Application Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .152
Figure 12.13 Desktop Explorer: After Setting “Visible on all desktops” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .153
Figure 12.14 Desktop Explorer: “Collapse to Desktop n” Application Setting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Figure 12.15 Desktop Explorer: After Setting “Collapse to Desktop n” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .154
Figure 13.1 nView Desktop Manager Properties: Tools Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Figure 13.2 NVKeystone Option in Windows Desktop Properties Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .159
Figure 13.3 nView Desktop Manager Properties (Tools): NVKeystone Adjustment Screen. . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Figure 13.4 nView Desktop Manager Properties (Tools): NVKeystone Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163
Figure 14.1 nView Desktop Manager Properties: Applications Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
Figure 14.2 nView Desktop Manager Properties (Applications): Add Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .168
Figure 14.3 nView Desktop Manager Properties (Applications): Disable nView Desktop Manager Functions . . 169
Figure 14.4 nView Desktop Manager Properties (Applications): Individual Application Settings. . . . . . . . . 170
NVIDIA Corporation ix
Chapter 1 Introduction
C HAPTER
I
NTRODUCTION
The following major topics are discussed in this chapter:
• “About this Guide” on page 1
• “nView vs. NVIDIA Display Properties” on page 2
• “Why do I need Desktop Management?” on page 3
• “About nView Desktop Manager” on page 3
• “Key Terms and Concepts” on page 8
• “Features and Benefits” on page 11
• “Application Compatibility” on page 16
• “System Requirements and Support” on page 17
About this Guide
This User’s Guide is addressed to users of the NVIDIA® nView™ Desktop
Manager, which is a desktop and application management tool that runs on
Microsfot® Windows® operating systems.
O
ther Related Documentation
• If you are primarily using the NVIDIA workstation products, i.e., graphics
cards based on the Quadro
(graphics processing units), see the “Quadro Workstation User’s Guide”.
®
through Quadro4 series of NVIDIA GPUs
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NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
• For details on using the nView Desktop Manager application component of
the NVIDIA display drivers, see the “nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
(Driver Release 40)”.
• The document titled “NVIDIA Drivers for Windows: Release 40 Notes”
enables add-in-card (AIC) producers and original equipment manufacturers
(OEMs) to monitor performance improvements and bug fixes in the driver.
nView vs. NVIDIA Display Properties
The NVIDIA Display Driver software includes two software components:
nView and NVIDIA Display Properties.
• nView represents a collection of multi-display technologies encompassing
driver support, multi-display GPU architecture, and desktop management
support. The primary nView component is the Desktop Manager, which is a
user-level application utility that focuses on making you more productive
when working on your Windows desktop.
Note: Desktop Manager is now a separate item on the Windows Control
Panel group (Figure 1.1). You can click this item to access the nView
Desktop Manager properties panel.
Figure 1.1
Windows 2000 Control Panel with nView Desktop Manager Option
• NVIDIA Display Properties refers to the NVIDIA Windows Control Panelbased user interface, which you can access from the Windows Display
Properties > Settings > Advanced option and configure the advanced
display properties of the current release of the NVIDIA Windows Display
Driver software.
Note: The NVIDIA Display Properties also includes the nView Display Mode
option, which lets you configure multi-display support for Clone and/or
Span modes if you are using an NVIDIA GPU-based card that supports
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Chapter 1 Introduction
multiple displays. See Table 1.1 Supported NVIDIA Products and also
the NVIDIA Display Properties User’s Guide.
Why do I need Desktop Management?
As users run more and more applications and process even more information,
their screen sizes are getting larger and larger. Larger screen area simply makes
users more productive.
One of the more cost effective and common ways of increasing screen area is to
use multiple displays and/or multiple desktops (multiple desktops can be
created in a single-display setup), which allow you to place your applications on
multiple displays and desktops having ready and immediate access to the
information they contain.
While large screens and multiple displays and desktops are a great way of
increasing your visible work area, these larger desktops start becoming more
difficult to manage. Once simple operations such as finding your mouse cursor
or even a window can become very time-consuming when you have to hunt
through several screens.
In addition, using multiple displays results in additional issues such as the
screen split between two displays – windows that are placed on this screen split
are extremely difficult to read. So, while larger desktop areas promise to
dramatically increase your productivity, there are user interface issues that can
make it difficult to use at times.
A “desktop manager” manages your large desktop and takes care of many of the
user interface issues that result from moving to a larger desktop area. You can
think of a desktop manager as being an extension of the windows user interface
tailored for large desktops.
About nView Desktop Manager
nView Desktop Manager supports both single-display and multi-display
configurations running with single-display, multi-display, or multiple graphics
cards based on NVIDIA GPUs.
Multi-Display Support
The Desktop Manager feature set primarily focuses on multi-display use by
workstation users in finance, corporate, digital content creation (DCC) and
similar organizations as well as in the mobile (laptop) markets. Therefore, to
take advantage of the full feature set of the Desktop Manager, you need a multi-
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NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
display configuration. With multiple displays, you can view a single application
as a large window stretching across several displays, or you can display
different applications on each monitor. Using a multi-display configuration is an
efficient and cost-effective way to increase the size of your computer display
area, commonly called the “desktop”.
Single-Display Support
Desktop Manager is designed for broad applications across the wide range of
NVIDIA product lines and markets. Therefore, single-display users can also
take advantage of many of its features. Although you cannot use multi-display
features in a single-display configuration, you can create multiple desktops and
use hot keys, NVKeystone™, and windows effects.
nView Desktop Manager Properties Panel
The nView Desktop Manager properties panel is independent of the properties
that are accessed through the Windows Display Properties Settings panel. The
nView Desktop Manager properties panel contains separate tabs, as shown in
Figure 1.2.
Once Desktop Manager is enabled, the Desktop Manager properties panel is
easily accessible from a variety of areas on your desktop. For example, it is
available from:
• the Windows Control Panel group
• the properties menu when you right click on your desktop
• the Media Center taskbar icon
When you open the nView Desktop Manager properties panel, the default Info
tab is displayed. The Profile, Windows, Effects, Zoom, and Hot Keys tabs
allow you to configure key Desktop Manager features as described in “Features
and Benefits” on page 11.
If you want to exercise even more control over your Windows desktop, you can
choose to enable Show Advanced nView Controls. Clicking this option on the
Info panel (Figure 1.3) displays additional tabs including Desktops, User
Interface, Applications, and Tools.
Note: See individual chapters in this guide for details on using the features on
these tabbed panels.
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Chapter 1 Introduction
Figure 1.2
Info tab
Figure 1.3
nView Desktop Manager Properties: Info Panel (default)
nView Desktop Manager
properties panel
nVIew Desktop Manager Properties: Info Panel After Enabling Desktop
Manager
Tabs: Info, Profiles, Windows,
Effects, Zoom, and Hot Keys
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NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Figure 1.4
nVIew Desktop Manager Properties: Info Panel After Enabling Desktop
Manager Advanced Options
Advanced Option tabs:
User Interface, Tools,
Applications, and Desktops
New Features and Enhancements
Feature Enhancements
The following features have been enhanced in the new version of NVIDIA
nView Desktop Manager:
• Operating System Support
NVIDIA nView supports Windows NT® 4.0, Windows 9x/Me, and Windows
2000/XP.
• Profile Feature
Display Modes are now saved to and loaded from each profile
• Multiple Desktop Support: The following new features have been added to
the NVIDIA nView multiple desktop functionality:
• Support for multi-monitor wallpaper selection. (See “Properties: Changing
Wallpaper and Desktop Icons” on page 144.)
• Graphical display in explorer shell extension
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Chapter 1 Introduction
• Support for icons to represent desktops. (“Properties: Changing Wallpaper
and Desktop Icons” on page 144.)
• Support for arbitrary positioning of windows on the desktops
• Zoom Support
- New fixed-frame zoom (See “Fixed Frame” on page 105.)
- Bi-directional zoom editing capability (See “Enable Bi-Directional
Editing” on page 106.)
New Features
The following are features that have been added to the new version of NVIDIA
nView Desktop Manager:
• nView Task Switcher
When enabled, nView adds a desktop switcher in addition to the standard
application tab switcher. By default, this additional “switch desktop”
functionality is accessed through a Alt-~ keystroke combination which you
can change through options in the Hot Keys panel. See “Enable nView Task
Switcher” on page 125.
• Color-Keyed Windows
This feature lets you use to color key windows for easy identification when
activating them on the desktop. See “Enable Windows Color Keying” on
page 98.
• NVKeystone
This feature allows real-time image correction on portable projectors and
heads-up displays.
1
For example, NVKeystone can be set to compensate for keystoning effects
on your windows display, allowing you to fix distorted projection images.
This feature is primarily for laptop (mobile) computers.
See “Accessing NVKeystone” on page 160.
• Taskbar and Menu Transparency. See “Using Effects” on page 95.
• New window actions, such as‚ Collapse
• New applications settings, including a full set of application launch and
disable settings. See “Managing Applications: For Advanced Users” on
page 165.
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NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
1
NVKeystone is not supported on graphics cards based on the TNT, TNT2 or Vanta product
families.
Key Terms and Concepts
Desktop Manager can manage and control many items on your desktop.
Generally, it operates on two types of desktop objects – “windows” or
“applications”.
application
An application (or program) can have any number of windows. Some
applications have only a single window such as Calculator or Notepad. Other
applications can have many windows such as Outlook where you can open
several E-mail windows, have your Inbox open, open calendars, etc.
Desktop Manager can perform operations on applications as well as windows.
In the case of applications, the operation is performed on every window that is
part of that application.
If you run multiple copies of an application, any operation you perform on a
copy of the application will apply to every copy of the application that is
running.
child window
A child window refers to any “sub” window of the main or “parent” application
window. For example, in the Microsoft® Excel application, you can open several
worksheets at once inside the main Excel window. Each worksheet is a child
window of Excel.
Control Panel
Refers to the Windows Control Panel group, which you can access by clicking
Start > Settings > Control Panel from the Windows desktop. NVIDIA nView
Desktop Manager is a clickable icon in this group of icons. When you double-
click this icon, the nView Desktop Manager properties panel (shown in Figure
1.2) appears.
Note: The nView Desktop Manager properties panel in earlier revisions of the
this document was called the nView Desktop Manager control panel.
desktop
A “desktop” is the on-screen work area on which windows, icons, menus, and
dialog boxes appear. You can create multiple desktops on single-display
systems or multi-display systems, thereby increasing your work area.
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Chapter 1 Introduction
dialog box
Dialog boxes are user-input windows that contain command (buttons) and
various kinds of options through which you can carry out a particular command
or task. For example, in a Windows application “Save As” dialog box, you must
indicate the folder to contain the document to be saved and the name of that
document when saving it.
Also see the definition of “modal dialog box” and “modeless dialog box” on this
page.
dual-card configuration
A setup where two or more display devices are connected to two NVIDIA GPUbased graphics cards installed in the computer.
GPU
graphics processing unit (GPU). NVIDIA graphics chip products are called
GPUs. Supported NVIDIA GPUs are listed in “Hardware: Supported NVIDIA
Products” on page 19.
keystoning
Keystoning describes the distortion that occurs when your display is projected
onto a curved surface or is projected at an oblique angle to a surface.
For example, if a projector were used to project an image on a flat wall, the
projector would ideally be set up to point straight at the wall. If you then angled
the projector right or left, you would see the image on the wall distort.
As a second example, if you projected your image onto a curved wall instead of
a flat wall, you would also see your image distorted. This type of distortion is
called “keystoning.”
The nView Desktop Manager feature called NVKeystone that can compensate
for this effect. For details on using this feature, see “Using Tools Options” on
page 157.
modal dialog box
A dialog box that puts you in the state or “mode” of being able to work only in
the dialog box. You cannot make a modal dialog box inactive. It can only be
closed by clicking one of its buttons.
modeless dialog box
A dialog box that resembles a document window without a collapse box. You
can make a modeless dialog box inactive and active again without closing it.
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NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
multiple-card configuration
A setup where two or more display devices are connected to two (or more)
NVIDIA GPU-based graphics cards in the computer.
multi-display configuration
A setup where two or more display devices are connected to either a multidisplay NVIDIA GPU-based graphics card in the computer; or two (or more)
NVIDIA GPU-based graphics cards in the computer.
parent window
A “parent” window refers to the “main” default launch window that you see
when an application opens. For example, in the Microsoft Outlook application,
the main window is your “Inbox”, since that’s the first window that launches
when you open Outlook.
properties panel
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager is a clickable icon in the Windows Control
Panel group of icons. When you click this icon, the nView Desktop Manager
properties panel (shown in Figure 1.2) appears.
Note: The nView Desktop Manager properties panel in earlier revisions of the
this document was called the nView Desktop Manager control panel.
single-display configuration
A setup where only one display device is connected to the NVIDIA GPU-based
graphics card in your computer.
skin
A file that customizes the “look and feel” of the Windows user interface.
tab
Individual Desktop Manager “tabs” (i.e., Profiles, Effects, Windows, Hot Keys,
and Desktops) are available from the nView Desktop Manager properties panel.
window
A “window” is any independent window on your desktop. Applications such as
Outlook or Explorer may have several windows, which are all part of the same
application. Windows can be dragged around the screen, opened and closed, and
resized. Desktop Manager allows you to do even more with windows such as
make them transparent or force them always to be on top of other windows.
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Chapter 1 Introduction
window class
(For advanced users only.)
Every type of window shown on your desktop has what is called a “window
class” that describes the type of window it is. These window classes are shared
between different applications. Normally, this window class information is
hidden from users as there is no need to know it. nView Desktop Manager,
however, allows you to perform operations on window classes as well as
applications. This allows nView Desktop Manager to be set up to treat certain
types or classes of windows differently. Because window classes are shared
between applications, by individually configuring a particular window class,
you can modify behavior for all applications that use windows of that class.
For example, all dialog boxes have a window class of #32770. nView Desktop
Manager can be set up to disable transparency for all #32770 class windows.
The effect of this would be that no dialog boxes from any application would
ever be transparent.
For details on using this feature, see “Managing Applications: For Advanced
Users” on page 165.
Features and Benefits
The Desktop Manager application engine consists of several features that
manage windows, desktops, displays, applications, hot keys, and window
effects. This section provides an overview of the key functions in terms of these
features.
For details on these features and how to use them, refer to individual chapters in
this guide.
Note: A few features may be restricted to users with System Administrator
access privileges under Windows XP/2000 and Windows NT 4 and will
be noted as such, where applicable in this guide.
Windows Management
The windows management features are available on the Windows page (Figure
1.2) on the nView Desktop Manager properties panel.
Multi-display features allow you to do the following tasks:
• Configure your system to prevent windows from stretching across (spanning)
displays.
• Configure where dialog boxes pop up on your desktop. You can have them
appear centered on the display device on which your cursor is displayed.
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NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
• Add a custom maximize option to your windows. Tis option lets you
maximize windows to a single display device (monitor) or to the entire
desktop.
Other features allow you to do the following tasks:
• Extend the Windows user interface with new and powerful window controls.
• Extend the style of every window in your system. Using Desktop Manager,
you can turn windows transparent or force them to always be on top of other
windows.
• Extend the system menu of every window in your system with the style
options above plus options to move windows to different desktops and
displays.
• When using multiple desktops, set a window to be visible on every desktop
for those windows you always want to see.
For complete details on using Windows Management features, see “Managing
Windows” on page 90.
Desktops Management
Using the Desktops settings on your nView Desktop Manager properties panel,
you can do the following tasks:
• Create up to 32 different desktops, each with its own background.
• Open and move applications between different desktops and switch between
desktops with a single keystroke
• Use multiple desktops to reduce the clutter on your desktop – you can group
similar applications on different desktops and quickly switch between them.
• Show your desktops, including a graphical birds-eye view of each desktop
within Windows Explorer.
• Manage your desktop in several ways to suite your style. You can access and,
therefore, switch between desktops using various methods, including:
• Using hot keys
• Right clicking on any desktop
• Your folder tree in Windows Explorer
• Options from a Media Center icon on your Windows taskbar
• A desktop toolbar that can be floating or docked to the taskbar
• NV Task-Switcher
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Chapter 1 Introduction
For complete details on using Desktops Management features, see “Managing
Desktops” on page 138.
Application Management
The application management functionality of Desktop Manager is available
from several Desktop Manager tabs (“Using the User Interface Options” on
page 123, “Managing Windows” on page 90, and “Managing Applications: For
Advanced Users” on page 165). Using these features, you can do the following
tasks:
• Perform operations on entire applications, such as moving an entire
application to a desktop or to a monitor.
• Set up your Window Manager to function differently for different
applications. For example, you may never want a Word window to span
multiple displays; however, you may want a spreadsheet, such as Excel
windows, to span multiple displays so you can see all the columns.
• Save all your customized Desktop Manager settings for an application when
you close it and restore them when you reopen the application.
For example, if you enable the Individual Settings feature, the application
manager can remember if you closed the Microsoft Word application on your
second desktop and whether or not the Word window was transparent when
you closed it. When you re-open Word, it automatically opens on your
second desktop and have transparency enabled.
Using this feature, you can also specify that Word always launches on a
specific desktop with a specific state (such as Transparent or Always on
top).
• Extend certain applications. While every window under Desktop Manager
has an extended menu giving options such as transparency or desktop
visibility, certain applications such as Internet Explorer 5.0 have additional
nView menu options allowing you to be more productive with the
application.
Profiles Management
You can quickly set up the Desktop Manager using the Profiles page from the
nView Desktop Manager properties panel.
Note: Under Windows XP/2000 and Windows NT 4.0, several profile-related
options may be restricted to users with System Administrator access
privileges
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Desktop Manager lets you save all of its settings including desktop, window,
and application settings to a data file called a “profile”. This profile includes all
of your Desktop Manager settings – even individual settings for your
applications. You can then reload your profile on any computer at any point in
the future. If you switch computers, upgrade your operating system, or are
configuring an office, you can simply save all your settings to a profile and then
load those settings on any computer that you want.
In addition to nView desktop management settings, Profiles can also save and
restore your display mode information as well. This includes the number and
position of enabled monitors, each monitor’s refresh rate, resolution, color
depth and more. When you load the profile, this information will be restored.
Note that unlike desktop management settings, display mode settings are
dependent upon the hardware in your machine and thus may not work when
transferred between machines. For example, if a profile was saved with display
mode information on a computer that had four displays connected and is then
copied to a computer that has only two displays connected, then loading this
profile on the two-display computer will not restore the display mode because
the physical hardware (i.e., four displays) does not exist on the computer.
You can save as many profiles as you like for different operating modes. If you
use a laptop, you may want Desktop Manager to be set up differently when you
are docked than when you are not docked. Using profiles, you can create a
docked and undocked profile and switch between them. You can even set up a
hot key to load a profile so you can switch with a single keystroke.
Desktop Manager comes with several pre-defined profiles to get you started
quickly. These profiles contain the basic settings for different user levels and
industries. You can start with one of these pre-defined profiles and tailor it to
your own needs.
Profiles management features are discussed in “Working With Profiles” on
page 84
User Interface
Using the User Interface settings, you can customize the user interface that
nView Desktop Manager uses on your desktop. This includes turning on and off
title bar buttons for your application windows, setting up the nView options
menu, and enabling nView informational menus. You can also do the following:
•Turn on and off a title bar button allowing access to nView features from
each window on your desktop.
•Turn on and off a title bar button that adds a new type of windows
minimization feature to your desktop – collapsing the window to a title bar.
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•Turn on and off a feature that shows your multiple desktops inside Windows
Explorer.
•Turn on and off several notification message options.
The User Interface features are discussed in “Using the User Interface Options”
on page 123.
Tools
For details on using the Tools features, see “Using Tools Options” on page 157.
The nView Desktop Manager toolbox includes several utilities designed to
solve specific user problems. You can use tools, such as “NVKeystone” and
“flat panel calibration” to improve your display quality. Utilities include antikeystoning support and flat panel monitor calibration screens are designed to
improve windows multi-display features.
The Tools panel contains the following key features:
• NVKeystone can be set to compensate for keystoning effects on your
windows display, allowing you to fix distorted projection images. This
feature is primarily for laptop (mobile) computers.
• Analog flat panel calibration displays a screen on your display optimized
for your flat panel’s auto-calibrate feature allowing for improved image
quality during the “auto-sync” process.
• Automatically align displays will snap multiple displays into alignment if
they are slightly misaligned. This also fixes certain Windows issues where
Windows can sometimes leave small gaps between displays.
Zoom, Hot Keys, and Other Features
The Effects, Zoom, and Hot Key tabs are accessible from the nView Desktop
Manager properties panel. Effects and Hot Keys options offer additional
enhancements, including:
• Faster opening and closing of windows
• A setting that automatically turns windows “transparent” when you drag
them. This allows you to quickly see what is underneath a window without
having to minimize or move it.
• A “zoom” tool that lets you see a zoomed up view of the area around the
cursor. You can even use the zoom tool like a magnifying glass and drop it on
top of what you want to magnify on the desktop
• A full set of hot keys. Virtually every action from toggling a window to be
transparent to jumping to a different desktop can be assigned to a hot key.
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Window effects such as “zooming” and “transparency” are discussed in “Using
Zoom Options” on page 101 and “Using Effects” on page 95.
Hot Keys are discussed in “Using Hot Keys” on page 115.
Setup Wizard and Online Help
•A Setup Wizard helps you get started with Desktop Manager.
• On-line Help displays context-sensitive help when using Desktop Manager
configuration options.
Application Compatibility
While the vast majority of applications are compatible with desktop and
windows management, there are some applications that are not. If Desktop
Manager detects these types of applications, it will not attempt to manage them.
Depending upon the level of compatibility of the application, Desktop Manager
may offer varying levels of functionality.
Functionality that may be disabled for these applications includes support for
Transparency and Individual Settings features, window position management,
nView Desktop Manger menu options, and/or multiple desktop support.
If an application window supports the nView Options Menu, but does not
support certain Desktop Manager functions, a menu item called About this
app... is added to the application’s nView option menu. In this case, you can
click on this menu item to display information about the features that have been
disabled for the application.
If you have any nView title bar buttons enabled, then an nView application
status indicator appears to the left of the nView buttons. If the application does
not support certain nView functions, this indicator will be red; otherwise it will
be black. If the indicator is red, you can click it to display information about the
features that have been disabled for this application. For further details, see
“Using the User Interface Options” on page 123.
Examples of Incompatible Applications
Examples of application windows that do not support certain Desktop Manager
features include:
• Command prompt (DOS window) under all operating systems. (All
desktop management features are disabled.)
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• Solitaire and Freecell under Windows Me. (All window management
features are disabled.)
• Microsoft PowerPoint. (The transparency feature is disabled.)
Skinning Utilities: Known Issues
If you use skins, Desktop Manager has been tested with several commonly
available “skinning” utilities with no known compatibility issues other than
those listed below.
Some skins do not expose the application window’s system menu on its window
frame (title bar). As a result, the nView options menu can only be accessed from
either a title bar button (see “Enable nView Menu Options Title Bar Button” on
page 129) or a hot key but not from the application window’s system menu.
However, you can still access the nView options menu by right clicking the
application on the taskbar. For details on the methods available for accessing an
application’s system menu, see “Add nView Options to System Menus” on
page 128.
System Requirements and Support
This section contains the following topics:
• “Operating Systems” on page 18
• “Disk Space” on page 18
• “Software: NVIDIA Display Driver” on page 19
• “Optional Software: Internet Explorer” on page 19
• “Optional: System Administrator Access Privileges” on page 19
• “Hardware: Supported NVIDIA Products” on page 19
• “Multi-Display Configuration: Tips and Requirements” on page 21
• “Multi-Display Mode and Feature Support” on page 21
• “Supported Languages” on page 22
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Operating Systems
This release of the nView Desktop Manager driver is designed for the
Microsoft Windows operating systems listed in Table 1.1:
Table 1.1
Operating System Minimum Requirements
Windows XP Home, Professional, and Media Center Editions
Windows 2000
Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4
Windows Millennium Edition (Me)
Windows 98/Me Microsoft DirectX 5
Operating System Requirements
OSR2 (OEM Service Release 2) with USB supplement
for full AGP support
Microsoft
OPENGL32.DLL
Note: Windows 98 and Windows Me are collectively called Windows 9x in this
guide.
Disk Space
The release of nView Desktop Manager has the following disk space
requirements, based on the operating system you are using:
English
• Windows XP/2000: 18.3 MB
• Windows NT 4.0: 16.0 MB
• Windows 9x: 17.5 MB
Localized (non-English languages)
• Windows XP/2000: 19.5 MB
• Windows NT 4.0: 18.5 MB
• Windows 9x: 20.2 MB
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Chapter 1 Introduction
Software: NVIDIA Display Driver
You must have a current version of the NVIDIA Display Driver software for
your Windows operating system.
Make sure the current version of the NVIDIA Display Driver software for your
Windows operating system has been installed on your computer.
Consult your System Administrator if you are unsure about the version that is
installed.
For further information on driver installation, see “Driver Installation And
Uninstallation” on page 24.
Optional Software: Internet Explorer
You must have installed Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or later version in
order to access the “Desktop Explorer” feature as well as specific nView Menu
Options that are available for Internet Explorer. See “Internet Explorer Options”
on page 135.
Optional: System Administrator Access Privileges
You can use Desktop Manager with or without System Administrator access
privileges.
Note: However, certain Profiles features require System Administrator
privileges under Windows NT 4.0 and Windows 2000/XP.
Hardware: Supported NVIDIA Products
Table 1.2 lists the NVIDIA products supported by Desktop Manager.
Note: Some Desktop Manager features support only certain NVIDIA GPUs,
which are noted in this table and where applicable in this guide.
Note: The Desktop Manager “transparency” feature works best with NVIDIA
GPUs that have higher performance than GeForce2 GTS.
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