Quarantine Home-Office Hacks: Episode 1

Some of you settled on taking a monitor home to work. I decided not to. Because to me, it meant more wires and less space. I have a Toshiba ThinkPad, running Windows 10, which has one HDMI port. I also have a LED TV which doubles as a monitor. So I decided to connect my laptop to my monitor. The benefit of my setup, is that it allows me to use both my laptop and TV monitor as screens.

I also sometimes prefer to avoid physically touching the laptop. To do that I use a mouse which I connect to the laptop, then I use the On-Screen Keyboard option on the laptop. The On-Screen Keyboard works for me because I do not type much. To find your On-Screen Keyboard, just type either  "osk" or On-screen Keyboard in the Search menu. To close your laptop lid and use your additional monitor as a screen, go to Settings>System>Power & then select the option to do nothing when the laptop lids closes.

I prefer the Extend option because it allows me to utilize more desktop space. I am able to recreate the affect of having multiple screens by selecting the Extend option. My second choice would be Duplicate. I do not use the Duplicate option often, because I prefer the affect of more space, not a replica used space. To me, the Duplicate option would be best for someone who wants to project their PC onto a bigger screen.

How to Extend Your Laptop Screen to Your TV Monitor using Windows 10

1. Plug a HDMI cable from your laptop to your TV Monitor (use a cable that is compatible with your devices)

2. Using your laptop, navigate to the taskbar, then click on the notification bar then select Project

3. Select Extend 

4. You should now see a display on both screens