Nvidia nView 3.0 Desktop Manager Version 52.14 for Windows User's Guide
ForceWare
nView 3.0 Desktop Manager
User’s Guide
Version 52.14
for Windows
NVIDIA Corporation
November 2003
Second Edition
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Published by
NVIDIA Corporation
2701 San Tomas Expressway
Santa Clara, CA 95050
Copyright © 2002 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, Digital Vibrance Control, GeForce, nfiniteFX, nForce, Quadro, RIVA, TNT, TNT2,
TwinView, 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
Release 50: Access Options for the nView
Desktop Manager Control Panel . . . . . . . 4
Release 50: New Features and Support. . . . 6
Release 50: Performance Improvements and
Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Release 40: Features and Enhancements . . 7
Feature Enhancements . . . . . . . . . . . 7
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 (NVKeystone) . . . . . . . . . . 9
modal dialog box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
window class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Features and Benefits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Desktop Management Panel . . . . . . . . . . 12
Windows Management . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
About the Desktops Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
Application Management . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
About the Profiles Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Types of Data Saved and Restored by a
Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Saving Profiles for Different Operating Modes
15
About the User Interface Panel . . . . . . . . 15
About the Tools Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
About the Zoom Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
About the Hot Keys and Effects Panels. . . . 16
About the Mouse Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Setup Wizard and Online Help. . . . . . . . . 18
Application Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Examples of Incompatible Applications . . . . 18
Skinning Utilities: Known Issues . . . . . . . . 19
Notes on Feature and Configuration Support . . 19
Feature Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Multi-Display Setup: Tips and Requirements. 20
Multi-Display Configuration: Tips and
Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Multi-Display Mode and Feature Support . . . 20
Examples in this Guide . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
2. Installing and Uninstalling
NVIDIA Display Driver Software
Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
About the NVIDIA Display Driver Installation . . 23
File Locations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Preserving Desktop Manager Settings Before
Upgrading Your Software . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Uninstalling the NVIDIA Display Driver Software 24
Using the NVIDIA Display Driver Menu. . . . . . 25
NVIDIA Settings Utility. . . . . . . . . . . . 27
3. System Requirements
Operating Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Minimum Hard Disk Space . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Software: NVIDIA Display Driver . . . . . . . 32
Optional Software: Internet Explorer . . . . . 32
Optional: System Administrator Access
Privileges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
Hardware: Supported NVIDIA Products . . . 33
Supported Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4. Using the Desktop Manager
Setup Wizard
About the Setup Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
Multi-Display Auto-Launch Wizard: Multi-Display
vs. Single-Display Setup . . . . . . . . . . . 37
Manually Starting the Wizard Using the Wizard
Option . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
NVIDIA Corporation i
User’s Guide Table of Contents
Enabling nView Desktop Manager From the
Windows Control Panel . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Starting the Wizard from the nView Desktop
Manager Desktop Management Panel . . . 40
About Using the Setup Wizard . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Notes Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Auto-Launch Wizard Pages After First-Time
Installation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Desktop Management Wizard Pages . . . . . . . 50
Desktop Management Wizard Pages for NVIDIA
Quadro GPU-based Graphics Cards. . . . . . . 55
5. Accessing and Enabling the
nView Desktop Manager Control
Panel
Overview of Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Accessing and Enable nView Desktop Manager
from the Windows Control Panel . . . . . . . . . 60
Enabling and Accessing Desktop Manager from the
nView Display Properties Menu . . . . . . . . . 61
Enabling Desktop Manager from the NVIDIA
Settings Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Using the NVIDIA Settings icon. . . . . . . . . 65
Accessing Windows Display Properties Settings.66
Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
6. Working With Profiles
About Profiles. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
About Saving and Restoring Your Display Mode
Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
About Saving Open Application States: For
Quadro-based GPUs only . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Benefits of Using Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Profiles Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
List of Profiles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Current Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Loading a Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Creating a Profile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
Saving a Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Deleting a Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Copying Profiles for Use on Another Computer .76
7. Managing Windows
About Windows Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Windows Panel Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Window Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Enable Window Spanning Across Displays . . 79
Enable child window spanning across
displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Open window on . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Prevent windows from opening off-screen 80
Limit taskbar to a single display . . . . . . 80
Dialog Box Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Enable dialog box repositioning . . . . . . . . 80
Move to display n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
Move to display where cursor appears . . 81
Move to display where application appears 81
Center dialog box on display . . . . . . . . 81
8. Managing Desktops
About Desktops Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Accessing the Desktops Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Notes Before You Begin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Desktops List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Creating Desktops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Using the “Add” Option . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Activating or Switching Desktops . . . . . . . . . 86
Activating Desktops from the NVIDIA
Settings icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Activating Desktops From the Windows
Desktop Properties Menu . . . . . . . . . . 87
Activating Desktops from Desktop Explorer88
Activating Desktops With Hot Keys . . . . 88
Renaming Desktops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Removing Desktops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Properties: Changing Wallpaper and Desktop Icons
88
Selecting a Background for the Desktop . . . 89
Selecting Separate Backgrounds Per Display 90
Selecting a Desktop Icon . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Multiple Desktop Global Options . . . . . . . . . 91
Show Desktop Name When Switching . . . . 91
Enable Desktops in Windows Explorer . . . . 92
Using nView Desktop Explorer . . . . . . . 93
Creating Desktops from Desktop Explorer 93
Renaming, Deleting, and Activating Desktops
from Desktop Explorer. . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Enhancing the Desktop Explorer
“Thumbnails” View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Using the Thumbnail Styles. . . . . . . . . 96
Moving Applications Between Desktops or to
a New Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Accessing Other Application Settings from
Desktop Explorer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Advanced Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101
Maximize Desktop Switching Speed . . . . .101
Show Command Prompt Windows on All
Desktops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .101
ii NVIDIA Corporation
User’s Guide Table of Contents
Force Desktop to Redraw in One Step. . . . 101
Allow Desktop to Use Different Resolutions. 101
Reset Desktops to the Current Resolution . 101
9. Using the User Interface Options
About User Interface Options . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Accessing the User Interface Tab . . . . . . . . 103
General Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Enabling General Options . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Enable nView Options in the Windows Right-
click Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Show Notification Messages on Taskbar . 104
Enable nView Task Switcher. . . . . . . . 104
Enable nView Toolbar . . . . . . . . . . . 104
Enable Display Gridlines . . . . . . . . . . 112
Windows and Applications Options . . . . . . . 114
Adding the nView Desktop Manager Title Bar
Buttons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Show Button for nView Options . . . . . . 114
Show button for full-desktop maximize . . 115
Show button for single-display maximize 116
Show button for “Collapse to Title Bar” . . 117
About the Title Bar Buttons LED Status
Indicators . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
About the nView Options Menu . . . . . . . . 119
Add nView Options to System Menus . . . . 119
nView Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
nView Menu: Description of Options . . . . . 122
nView Maximize. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Send window to. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Send application to . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Transparent (alpha blended). . . . . . . . 122
Always on top . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Visible on all desktops . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Collapse to desktop. . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Individual Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Individual Settings: Clear all . . . . . . . . 125
Individual Settings: Other Methods of
Clearing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
Menu Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
About this Application … . . . . . . . . . . 125
Application-specific nView Menu Options 125
10. Using Effects
About Effects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Accessing the Effects Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Window Drawing Enhancements. . . . . . . . . 128
Make Windows Minimize and Maximize Faster
128
Make Windows Transparent When Dragged.128
Require Shift key to be held down . . . . . 129
Enable Taskbar Transparency . . . . . . . . .129
Transparency Level . . . . . . . . . . . . .129
Windows Color Keying . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130
Enable Windows Color Keying . . . . . . . . .130
Manipulating Color-Keyed Windows Using
Hot Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130
Automatically Assign Colors to Windows .130
Colored Application Window Borders . . . . . 131
11. Using Zoom Options
About Zoom Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .134
Accessing the Zoom Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135
Zoom Features: Display Properties vs. Desktop
Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136
Zoom Window Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Magnifying Glass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137
Centered on Cursor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Fixed Frame . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137
Using the Mouse Wheel to Change Zoom Levels .
137
Showing the Cursor in a Zoom Window . . . . .138
Automatically Moving Zoom Window to the Next
Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Enabling Bi-Directional Editing . . . . . . . . . .138
Inverting the Colors of the Zoomed Image . . . .139
Zooming Video Playback (disables overlay) . . .139
Showing the Zoom Window . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Zoom Window Menus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
Zoom Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140
Zoom Refresh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140
Zoom Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141
Using Cursor Style Zoom . . . . . . . . . . 142
Using Magnifying Glass Style Zoom . . . . 143
Using Fixed Frame Zoom . . . . . . . . . .143
Full Screen Video Zoom . . . . . . . . . . . . . .147
12. Using Hot Keys
About Hot Key Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .148
Accessing the Hot Keys Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Selecting an Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .150
Windows and Applications Actions . . . . . .150
Desktop Management Actions . . . . . . . . .151
Window Management Actions . . . . . . . . .151
Display Mode Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . .151
Display Settings Actions . . . . . . . . . . . .152
Miscellaneous Actions . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Adding a Hot Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
NVIDIA Corporation iii
User’s Guide Table of Contents
Examples of Actions Requiring Additional
Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
“Move window to display…” . . . . . . . . 154
“Show color-keyed window” . . . . . . . . 155
Removing a Hot Key. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Removing All Hot Keys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Active Hot Keys List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
13. Configuring Mouse Effects
About Mouse Effects. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Mouse Panel Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
General Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Enable Throw Window Actions . . . . . . . . 159
Jump Dead Screen Areas . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Toggle Window Z-Order with Middle Mouse
Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Automatically Activate Windows Under Cursor
160
Change window Z-order when activating . . 160
Kinematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Enable Mouse Gestures . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Gesture Sensitivity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Require Shift key to be held down . . . . . . 161
Operate on Window Under Cursor . . . . . . 161
Shake Mouse Horizontally. . . . . . . . . . . 161
Shake Mouse Vertically . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Rotate Mouse Clockwise . . . . . . . . . . . 162
Adding a Window Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175
Disabling an nView Desktop Manager Function .177
Individual Settings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .177
Launch Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .178
Application Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .179
Internet Explorer Options . . . . . . . . . . . .179
Add Microsoft Internet Explorer Double Right-
click and Shift-left-click Extensions . . . .180
Add Microsoft Internet Explorer Popup
Preventer Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . .181
Add Microsoft PowerPoint Slide Show Extension
182
14. Using Tools Options
About Tools Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Accessing the Tools Tab. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
Display Quality: NVKeystone . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Enable NVKeystone Display Correction . . . 165
Enable NVKeystone Option in Desktop Menu .
166
Accessing NVKeystone . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
NVKeystone Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166
NVKeystone Adjustment Screen . . . . . . . 167
NVKeystone Options . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Display Quality: Show Flat Panel Calibration
Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
15. Managing Applications:
For Advanced Users
Accessing the Applications Panel . . . . . . . . 170
About the Applications Panel . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Adding an Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Removing an Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
About Windows Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
iv NVIDIA Corporation
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
List of Tables
Table 1.1 Multi-Display Mode and Feature Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Table 3.1 Operating System Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
Table 3.2 Hard Disk Space Requirements — English . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Table 3.3 Hard Disk Space Requirements — Non-English Languages . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Table 3.4 Hard Disk Space Requirements — Full International Package . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
Table 3.5 Supported NVIDIA GPUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
NVIDIA Corporation v
NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
List of Figures
Figure 1.1 Windows 2000 Control Panel with nView Desktop Manager Item (icon) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Figure 1.2 nView Desktop Manager Properties: Tabbed Control Panel vs. Menu Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Figure 2.1 NVIDIA GPU Tab . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Figure 2.2 NVIDIA Display Properties Menu: Expanded with Scroll Bar and Hidden . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Figure 2.3 NVIDIA Display Properties: NVIDIA Menu (Windows XP/2000) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Figure 2.4 NVIDIA Display Properties: NVIDIA Menu (Windows 9x) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
Figure 4.1 nView Desktop Manager Enabled: nView Properties Appear on Desktop Menu . . . . . . . . . . . 38
Figure 4.2 Default Desktop Managment Panels: Tabbed and Menu Views . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Figure 4.3 Desktop Managment Panels After Enabling Desktop Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Figure 4.4 Auto-Launch Wizard Welcome Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Figure 4.5 Auto-Launch Wizard Setup Option: “Typical Setup” Selected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Figure 4.6 Auto-Launch Wizard Setup Option: Display Settings for Typical Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Figure 4.7 Auto-Launch Wizard Setup Options Page: “Custom Setup” Selected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Figure 4.8 Auto-Launch Wizard: Multi-Display Mode Page: Dualview Mode Selected . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Figure 4.9 Auto-Launch Wizard Display Settings Page for Dualview Mode ( 2 CRT Example) . . . . . . . . . 44
Figure 4.10 Auto-Launch Wizard: Multi-Display Mode Page: Span Mode Selected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
Figure 4.11 Auto-Launch Wizard Display Settings Page for Span Mode (Exampe 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Figure 4.12 Auto-Launch Wizard Display Settings Page for Span Mode (Exampe 2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Figure 4.13 Auto-Launch Wizard Display Settings Page for Span Mode (Exampe 3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Figure 4.14 Auto-Launch Wizard Display Settings Page for Span Mode (Exampe 4) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Figure 4.15 Auto-Launch Wizard Multi-Display Mode Page: Clone Mode Selected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Figure 4.16 Auto-Launch Wizard Display Settings Page for Clone Mode (2 CRT Example) . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Figure 4.17 Auto-Launch Wizard Page: NOT Enabling Desktop Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Figure 4.18 Auto-Launch Wizard Completion Without Enabling nView Desktop Manager . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Figure 4.19 Auto-Launch Wizard: Enabling nView Desktop Manager l . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Figure 4.20 Auto-Launch Wizard Completion Without Enabling nView Desktop Manager . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Figure 4.21 nView Desktop Manager Control Panel Launched . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Figure 4.22 Desktop Management Wizard: Welcome Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Figure 4.23 Desktop Management Wizard: Profiles Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Figure 4.24 Desktop Management Wizard: Window Management Page (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Figure 4.25 Desktop Management Wizard: Window Management Page (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Figure 4.26 Desktop Management Wizard: Window Management Page (3) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Figure 4.27 Desktop Management Wizard: Enabling nView Desktop Manager Page (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
Figure 4.28 Desktop Management Wizard: Window Transparency Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Figure 4.29 Desktop Management Wizard: Completion Page . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Figure 4.30 Desktop Management Wizard: Profiles Page for NVIDIA Quadro-based GPUs (1) . . . . . . . . . 55
NVIDIA Corporation vi
User’s Guide List of Figures
Figure 4.31 Wizard Window Management Page for NVIDIA Quadro-based GPUs (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
Figure 5.1 nView Desktop Manager Enabled: nView Properties Appear on Desktop Menu . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Figure 5.2 nView Desktop Manager Disabled: nView Properties Removed from Desktop Menu . . . . . . . . 58
Figure 5.3 Desktop Management Panel After Enabling Desktop Manager . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Figure 5.4 nView Desktop Manager Enabled on the nView Display Properties Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Figure 5.5 Windows Control Panel With NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
Figure 5.6 Desktop Managment Panel: Before and After Desktop Manager is Enabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Figure 5.7 Accessing Desktop Manager from the nView Display Properties Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Figure 5.8 nView Desktop Manager Enabled on the nView Display Properties Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Figure 5.9 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Figure 5.10 NVIDIA Settings Icon on the Windows Taskbar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Figure 5.11 NVIDIA Settings icon: nView Desktop Manager Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Figure 5.12 Desktop Managment Panel: Accessing the Windows Display Properties Settings Panel . . . . . . . 66
Figure 6.1 Profiles Panel for NVIDIA GeForce-based GPUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
Figure 6.2 Creating a New Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Figure 6.3 Profiles Panel After Adding a Profile. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
Figure 6.4 Deleting a Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
Figure 7.1 Windows Panel in nView Dualview Mode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Figure 7.2 Windows Panel Options for NVIDIA Quadro-based GPUs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
Figure 8.1 Desktops Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Figure 8.2 Creating a Desktop . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Figure 8.3 Viewing the Added Desktop. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Figure 8.4 NVIDIA Settings icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Figure 8.5 Accessing Desktops Through the NVIDIA Settings icon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Figure 8.6 Changing Properties for Multiple Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Figure 8.7 Desktop Explorer Prompt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Figure 8.8 Desktop Explorer Prompt . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Figure 8.9 Desktop Explorer Nodes in Windows Explorer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
Figure 8.10 Desktop Explorer: Main Pop-up Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Figure 8.11 Entering a Desktop Name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
Figure 8.12 Desktop Explorer: Desktop Pop-up Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
Figure 8.13 Desktop Explorer: nView Desktop Thumbnails Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Figure 8.14 Desktop Explorer: “Send to Desktop n” Application Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Figure 8.15 Desktop Explorer: After Setting “Visible on all desktops” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Figure 8.16 Desktop Explorer: “Collapse to Desktop n” Application Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Figure 8.17 Desktop Explorer: After Setting “Collapse to Desktop n” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100
Figure 9.1 User Interface Panel. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .103
Figure 9.2 Appearance of the Enabled “Default” nView Toolbar: “Show title” mode.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105
Figure 9.3 Actions: Show Text Enabled; Profiles: No Text/Title Enabled . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105
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Figure 9.4 Actions and Profiles: Show Text and Show Title Are Both Disabled. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .105
Figure 9.5 ScreenTips text for an Action Toolbar Button. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Figure 9.6 Appearance of Profiles, Actions, and Desktop Menus in nView Toolbar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106
Figure 9.7 nVIew Toolbar: View Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107
Figure 9.8 nView Toolbar: Toolbars Menu.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .107
Figure 9.9 nView Toolbar: Attach Menu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108
Figure 9.10 nView Toolbar: Actions Menu with Show Text/Title Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .108
Figure 9.11 Customize Toolbar Dialog Box: Available from the Actions Menu Only.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109
Figure 9.12 nView Toolbar: Desktops Menu with Show Text/Title Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109
Figure 9.13 nVIew Toolbar: Profiles Menu with Show Text/Title AND Show Text Only Enabled. . . . . . . . . 110
Figure 9.14 nView Toolbar: Actions Menu with Show Text/Title AND Show Title Only Enabled. . . . . . . . . 111
Figure 9.15 nView Toolbar: Profiles Menu with Show Title Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Figure 9.16 Edit Display Gridlines. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
Figure 9.17 Gridlines Setup (1): Grid and Anchor Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113
Figure 9.18 Gridlines Setup (2): Use Grids With . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
Figure 9.19 Accessing the nView Desktop Manager Options Menu Using the nView Options Menu Button . . 115
Figure 9.20 User Interface Panel Options (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Figure 9.21 Application Title Bar (Full Desktop or Single Display) Maximize Button . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Figure 9.22 Window Appearance Using the “Collapse to Title Bar Button” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
Figure 9.23 nView Desktop Manager Button Bar: LED Indicator and nView Options Menu Button . . . . . . . 118
Figure 9.24 Accessing the nView Desktop Manager Options Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .120
Figure 9.25 nView Menu Options Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Figure 9.26 Individual Application Settings Dialog Box: 2 Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Figure 9.27 Prompt for Clearing Individual Settings for an Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125
Figure 9.28 Sample “About this Application” Information Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .126
Figure 10.1 Effects Panel for NVIDIA GeForce-based GPUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .128
Figure 10.2 Effects Panel for NVIDIA Quadro-based GPUs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129
Figure 10.3 Color Key Properties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .131
Figure 10.4 Sample Colored Application Window Borders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132
Figure 11.1 Zoom Panel for Magnifying Glass and Center on cursor Zoom Styles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Figure 11.2 Zoom Panel for Fixed Frame Zoom Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .136
Figure 11.3 Zoom Level Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .140
Figure 11.4 Zoom Refresh Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141
Figure 11.5 Zoom Style Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .141
Figure 11.6 Cursor Style Zoomed Area in Zoom Window (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Figure 11.7 Cursor Style Zoomed Area in Zoom Window (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
Figure 11.8 Magnifying Glass Style Zoom Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Figure 11.9 Magnifying Glass Style Zoom Window Over Zoom Area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .144
Figure 11.10 Magnifying Glass Style Zoomed Area in Zoom Window (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
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Figure 11.11 Magnifying Glass Style Zoomed Area in Zoom Window (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145
Figure 11.12 Zoom Window-Fixed Frame Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .145
Figure 11.13 Magnified Area in Zoom Window: Zoom Window . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146
Figure 12.1 nView Desktop Manager Properties: Hot Keys Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .149
Figure 12.2 Hot Keys Properties Dialog Box Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .154
Figure 12.3 Hot Keys Properties Dialog Box: for “Move window to display…” Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Figure 12.4 Hot Keys Properties Dialog Box: for “Show color-keyed window” Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Figure 12.5 nView Desktop Manager Properties: Active Hot Keys List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Figure 13.1 Mouse Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .160
Figure 14.1 nView Desktop Manager Properties: Tools Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165
Figure 14.2 NVKeystone Option in Windows Desktop Properties Menu . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .166
Figure 14.3 NVKeystone Adjustment Screen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .168
Figure 14.4 NVKeystone Options. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Figure 15.1 nView Desktop Manager Properties: Applications Panel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Figure 15.2 Add Application Dialog Boxes (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Figure 15.3 Add Application Dialog Boxes (2) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Figure 15.4 Add Class Dialog Boxes (1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .176
Figure 15.5 nView Desktop Manager Properties (Applications): Disable nView Desktop Manager Functions . .177
Figure 15.6 Individual Application Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .178
Figure 15.7 Application Extensions Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
Figure 15.8 Internet Explorer Extensions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .181
Figure 15.9 Internet Explorer Popup Preventer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .182
Figure 15.10 Internet Explorer Dialog Box . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
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NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
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 18
• “Notes on Feature and Configuration Support” on page 19
• “Examples in this Guide” on page 21
About this Guide
This is a user’s guide addressed to end users of the NVIDIA® nView™ Desktop
Manager, which is a desktop and application management tool that runs on
Windows operating systems.
O
ther Related Documentation
• If you are primarily using the NVIDIA display properties features for
NVIDIA GeForce-based graphics processing units (GPUs), see the NVIDIA
ForceWare Release 50 Graphics Drivers User’s Guide.
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Chapter 1 Introduction
• The document titled NVIDIA ForceWare Driverss: Release 50 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 Item (icon)
• 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
multiple displays. See Table 3.5, “Supported NVIDIA GPUs”.
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NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager 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 (for single-display users), which
allow you to place your applications on multiple displays 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 multidisplay 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”.
NVIDIA Corporation 3
Chapter 1 Introduction
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.
Release 50: Access Options for the nView Desktop Manager Control Panel
Note: Starting from this current release (Release 50) of the NVIDIA display
driver, all nView Desktop Manager features accessible from the nView
Desktop Manager control panel are also accessible from the NVIDIA
display properties menu, shown in Figure 1.2.
In the previous Release 40 NVIDIA drivers, the nView Desktop Manager
control panel was a standalone user interface with feature-specific tabs to access
a variety of configurable Desktop Manager options.
In the current Release 50 NVIDIA display driver, the nView Desktop Manager
control panel can be opened as a standalone user interface and the exact options
can be accessed from the NVIDIA display properties menu because the Desktop
Manager control panel options have also been integrated into the NVIDIA
display properties control panel menu (Figure 1.2).
Once nView Desktop Manager is enabled, its control panel is easily accessible
from a variety of areas on your desktop, as explained in “Accessing and
Enabling the nView Desktop Manager Control Panel” on page 57, For example,
it is available from:
• the Windows Control Panel group
• the desktop (right click) properties menu
• the NVIDIA Settings taskbar icon
• the NVIDIA display properties control panel menu
When you first open the nView Desktop Manager control panel, the default
Desktop Management tab is displayed. Once you enable the Enable nView
Desktop Manager option, the remaining tabs (or menu items) are available and
configurable, as described in “Features and Benefits” on page 11.
Note: Individual chapters in this guide describe the various categories of
features to configure.
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NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Figure 1.2
nView Desktop Manager Properties: Tabbed Control Panel vs. Menu Style
nView Desktop Manager
control panel
Options as tabs
- Desktop Management,
- Profiles
- Windows
- Applications
- Desktops
- Tools
- Hot Keys
- Mouse
- Zoom
- Effects
- User Interface
Options as menu items
within the NVIDIA display
properties menu
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Chapter 1 Introduction
Release 50: New Features and Support
•nView toolbar lets you dock hot keys and other actions — such as desktop
switching, mode switching, and profile loading — on a toolbar for easy
access.
• Profiles can store and load the open application state.
• Kinematic mouse actions such as switching to the next or previous desktop
can be accomplished by specific mouse movements such as shakes or
circular motions. Mouse features also include throw-action detection for a
more interactive “movie style” user interface.
• Resolution per desktop support allows each desktop can be set to a
different resolution.
• Application display exclusions and inclusions allows the user to set up
applications to always launch on a specified monitor, or never launch on a
specified monitor.
• Microsoft Internet Explorer pop-up prevention
• Monitor grids allows display devices to be divided into subgrids which—for
the purposes of geometric operations such as application window
maximizing—act as separate display devices.
• NVKeystone luma compensation
Release 50: Performance Improvements and Enhancements
• Desktop switching speed has increased by 40%.
• Integrated control panels -- The nView Desktop Manager control panel is
now consolidated with the NVIDIA display properties control panel.
• New nView Desktop Manager Setup Wizard includes mode set support for
nView Standard, Clone, Spanning, and Dualview modes.
• Driver independence allows nView to be installed independently of the
graphics drivers, with no version interdependencies.
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NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Release 40: Features and Enhancements
Feature Enhancements
The following features have been enhanced in the previous Release 40 NVIDIA
nView Desktop Manager:
• Operating System Support includes 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 contains the following new features:
• Support for multi-display wallpaper selection. (See “Properties: Changing
Wallpaper and Desktop Icons” on page 88.)
• Graphical display in Windows Explorer shell extension
• Support for icons to represent desktops. (“Properties: Changing Wallpaper
and Desktop Icons” on page 88.)
• Support for arbitrary positioning of windows on the desktops
• Zoom support includes:
• New fixed-frame zoom (See “Fixed Frame” on page 137.)
• Bi-directional zoom editing capability (See “Enabling Bi-Directional
Editing” on page 138.)
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 Key panel.
See “Enable nView Task Switcher” on page 104.
• Color-keyed windows allows the user to color key windows for easy
identification when activating them on the desktop. See “Enable Windows
Color Keying” on page 130.
• NVKeystone™ allows real-time image correction on portable projectors and
heads-up displays.
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.
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Chapter 1 Introduction
See “Accessing NVKeystone” on page 166.
• Taskbar and Menu Transparency. See “Using Effects” on page 127.
• 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 170.
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 only if the operation is enabled through the Individual
Settings feature 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.
2
NVKeystone is not supported on graphics cards based on the TNT, TNT2 or Vanta product
families.
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 click
this icon, the nView Desktop Manager properties panel (shown in Figure 1.2)
appears.
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NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
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.
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 “Supported NVIDIA GPUs” on
page 33.
keystoning (NVKeystone)
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 164.
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Chapter 1 Introduction
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.
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 graphical user
interface.
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NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
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.
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 170.
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.
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Chapter 1 Introduction
Desktop Management Panel
When you first launch nView Desktop Manager, the Desktop Management
panel appears. It provides the following information and features:
• nView Desktop Manager file name, description, and version information
• Lets you toggle between enabling and disabling nView Desktop Manager
• Gives you quick access to the Desktop Manager Setup Wizard
• Gives you quick access to the Windows Display Properties Settings panel
Windows Management
The windows management features are available on the Windows panel of
nView Desktop Manager properties.
Multi-display features allow you to:
• 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
• and much more...
For complete details on using Windows Management features, see “Managing
Windows” on page 77.
About the Desktops Panel
Using the Desktops panel of nView Desktop Manager properties, you can
• Create up to 32 different desktops, each with its own background. Use
multiple desktops to reduce the clutter on your desktop – you can group
similar applications on different desktops and quickly switch between them.
• Open and move applications between different desktops and switch between
desktops with a single keystroke
• Configure multiple-desktop options including,
• Set per desktop resolutions
• Show the desktop name while switching desktops
• Show your desktops, including a graphical birds-eye view of each desktop
within Windows Explorer
• and more. . .
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NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
• Manage your desktop in several ways to suite your style. You can access and,
therefore, switch between desktops using various methods, including:
• Use hot keys
• Right click on any desktop
• Your folder tree in Windows Explorer
• Options from an NVIDIA Settings icon on your Windows taskbar
• A desktop toolbar (enabled from the User Interface panel) that can be
floating or docked to your Windows taskbar
• nView task switcher (enabled from the User Interface panel)
For complete details on using Desktops Management features, see “Managing
Desktops” on page 82.
Application Management
The application management functionality of nView Desktop Manager is
available from the Applications panel. You can use the options on the
Applications panel to 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.
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Chapter 1 Introduction
About the Profiles Panel
You can quickly set up the Desktop Manager using the Profiles panel on nView
Desktop Manager properties.
Desktop Manager lets you save a snapshot of all desktop management settings
to the disk, including all individual application, NVKeystone, and other
settings to a data file called a “profile”. In addition, profiles can save and
restore display mode, system power profile, and Windows taskbar location.
Display mode information includes the number and position of enabled display
device, each display device’s refresh rate, resolution, color depth, etc. For
details, see Types of Data Saved and Restored by a Profile below.
Note: Beginning with the current NVIDIA Release 50 driver, profiles can also
save and load the open application states under NVIDIA Quadroseries GPUs only.
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.
Note: If you are using an NVIDIA Quadro-based graphics card, the nView
Desktop Manager installation 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 predefined profiles and tailor it to your own needs.
Types of Data Saved and Restored by a Profile
Specific types of NVIDIA display driver and display mode settings that can be
saved in a profile are:
• NVIDIA Display Driver Settings
• Desktop colors
• Performance and quality settings, including OpenGL and Direct3D
• Overlap and edge blending settings (applies to Quadro FX series of GPUs)
• Overlay and full screen video settings
• Desktop Management Settings include:
• Open application state
• Desktop Management
• Display mode information
• Taskbar position
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NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
• Computer power state
Saving Profiles for Different Operating Modes
If you use a notebook (laptop) computer, 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.
Profiles management features are discussed in “Working With Profiles” on
page 68
About the User Interface Panel
The nView Desktop Manager User Interface options let you customize the user
interface that is used on your desktop. Using the User Interface features, you
can do the following:
• Control nView Desktop Manager access and notification messages
• Switch between desktops
• Dock profiles, actions, and desktops on an nView toolbar
• Define gridlines on each of your monitors, which divides your display area o
function as sub-monitors for easily performing tasks involving dialog box
repositioning, window spanning and window maximize operations, etc.
• Add application title bar buttons that give you quick and easy access to
nView features and also provide feedback about the application state.
For example, the application title bar “maximize” button maximizes an
application window to full desktop in Dualview, Clone, and Single-Display
mode or a single display screen in nView Horizontal or Vertical Span mode.
• The nView options menu on each application window let you access nView
options (features), which can also be customized for individual applications.
The User Interface features are discussed in “Using the User Interface Options”
on page 102.
About the Tools Panel
For details on using the Tools features, see “Using Tools Options” on page 164.
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 anti-
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Chapter 1 Introduction
keystoning 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.
About the Zoom Panel
The Zoom panel shows you a user-definable zoom area of your desktop. Basic
Zoom styles include
• Cursor – window shows area around cursor.
• Magnifying Glass – you can drag the zoom window around to zoom the
area of the desktop on which you place the zoom window.
• Fixed Frame – lets you define a fixed zoom source for the window.
Other zoom features include:
• Using the mouse wheel to dynamically change zoom levels
• Using the auto-move feature to keep the zoom window out of your way.
• Using bi-directional zoom editing to edit through your zoom window.
• Inverting colors of the zoomed image for better visibility.
• For additional details,
About the Hot Keys and Effects Panels
The Effects and Hot Key panel options offer additional enhancements,
including:
• Faster opening and closing of windows
• Making windows transparent when dragged and making the taskbar
transparent
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NVIDIA nView Desktop Manager User’s Guide
Note: The transparency level is a global level affecting all applications. Note
that this value is one which can be individualized for an application
• A “zoom” tool that lets you see a zoomed 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.
• For NVIDIA Quadro-based cards, the color keying feature allows you to
color windows with different borders, which is most useful with individual
application settings and hot keys
For details on using the above features, see the following chapters, as
appropriate:
• “Using Zoom Options” on page 134
• “Using Effects” on page 127
• “Using Hot Keys” on page 148.
About the Mouse Panel
The Mouse panel of the nView Desktop Manager properties lets you configure
a variety of mouse-related actions for easier navigation.
A few key features are described here:
•The throw window action allows you the “throw” a window to a screen
edge using your mouse.
• Throw Sensitivity can be adjusted using a slider
•The Jump dead screen areas option will cause the mouse to jump dead
areas in non-rectangular multi-display configurations as long as you are
moving your mouse at a reasonable speed.
• Toggle window Z-order with middle mouse button option does the same
as the hot key only with the mouse and to the window that contains the
cursor.
• Auto-activate windows under cursor – does just that
• Kinematics and gestures features allow you to
• Assign mouse movements to trigger different actions (same actions as hot
keys)
• Adjust the gestures with a Gesture Sensitivity slider
• Use a key press to control these actions
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Chapter 1 Introduction
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 102.
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.)
• Solitaire and Freecell under Windows Me. (All window management
features are disabled.)
• Microsoft PowerPoint. (The transparency feature is disabled.)
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