It really doesn’t take much to please me. I’m a pretty happy guy most of the time. Sure, I can be specific in what I want, but even if I don’t get it, I think I have a good perspective in life and can stay fairly happy.

So when I figured this out, you might think it’s so terribly minor. But it means a lot to me.

I’m a dual-monitor guy. Primarily, this means that my laptop (Latitude D610) is either on my desk with a second monitor attached, or docked in the D/View, lid open, and connected to a second monitor.One thing that’s been annoying me to no end is certain application’s “memory” of what monitor it was on. And until recently, I had my work set up with the laptop on the right and the 2nd monitor on the left, and at home I had it backwards.

So inevitably, when I go into “standby” and move to the other place, emails, windows, web browsers, putty sessions, etc.. were always on some “third phantom monitor” that didn’t exist. So I’d have to go to start bar, right-click on the app, select Move, then navigate blindly with my keyboard arrow keys to get the window back to the main window. Then of course I’d move it to my current second monitor and start all over.

Yesterday I decided to switch my home setup to match my work setup. Boy, is life a LOT easier now. Such a minor thing, I know…

Recommendation to others using dual monitor setups with laptops: make sure all your setups (home, work, dock, projector, etc) have the same “direction” left to right for the 2nd monitor. It makes your life better.