I use johns background switcher to rotate the desktop wallpaper every 15mins or so. (I have 3 screens).

Although I would say that if you are struggling to think of something to use the screen for, you really dont need it for much more than a glorified picture frame. I find I spill onto them if I need to (I have 3 in sync for driving simulations)

Firstly you could give screen to me but only if quality matches my old trusty CRT.
If this doesn’t appeal then there are lots of charities that take old computer hardware and recycle it either for third world or for disadvantaged families closer to home.
Please see link below:
http://www.itforcharities.co.uk/pcs.htm

You only have firefox open!! You’ve not even set up anything on your toolbar. Basically you surf the net all day don’t you. You don’t need a second screen for that.

Can I just say that some of these words that I have to copy below are impossible to read never mind type.

So, you never use 2 applications simultaneously?

I usually have Open Office on one screen and Visual Studio on the other, sometimes Visual Studio on both screens, which cuts down on the constant reshuffling of debug & code windows.

Thanks for the suggestions so far. To answer a few of your points:

Richard Dalgleish – I think you’ve missed the point. I don’t have a spare screen to give away, I’ve simply extended my external monitor on to my laptop screen for the first time. I couldn’t work off a laptop screen all day – it would drive me nuts!

Muck and Technogeist – I don’t only have one window open during the course of the day. That was simply what was on screen when I took the photo. Normally I have at least Outlook, countless browser windows and Word open simultaneously.

I guess what I’m really looking for is something useful – such as news tickers or other reference material – that I can keep an eye on from the extra screen, without having to constantly avert my attention between the two.

Barry, surely it’s a bit dangerous asking “what should I do with…” questions here. Someone might give you the obvious answer!

But here’s a suggestion: You could keep a copy of Photoshop open, ready to compress any jpegs that you’re gonna upload to the PC Pro blogs….

Oops!

I suggest that subsidiary activities – stuff that will occasionally pop up – should be on the smaller screen. You may be able to tweak outlook to have larger text, and pop up emails on the larger screen. You may alternatively, if your eyesight is failing so, wish to use it as a magnifier.

Otherwise, perhaps use it for the reference material you need while writing things – a research display.

Also, an (other) obvious solution for those with failing eyesight: downgrade the resolution, making things larger.

Pass on what you’d put on yours, but on my three screen set up here working from home I’ve our internal IRC, email, word, two browsers, two command prompts and putty sessions as well as VMware.

First of all, turn the laptop round and take a picture of the desk behind it with your webcam so that it makes the screen ’see through’. Next, put a few news tickers on it, and they should appear to float in space. It amuses me anyways…

Use it for spotify!