Tip: Moving the notification area / clock in Windows 8.x to a secondary monitor
Windows 8.x has some nice improvements for those of us running multiple monitors, however there is one serious feature missing, and that is moving the notification tray and clock to a secondary monitor. One nice feature is having your taskbar on multiple monitors… however the mirrored taskbar doesn’t include your system tray and clock 🙁
While I haven’t been a “gamer” in years, I recently started playing PC based games again, and by that I mean ONE game, Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition. Since I’m running this full screen and it appears on my primary monitor, it covers the clock — so I can easily lose track of time when practicing my combos or fighting online.. but I digress…
Point is, I like having the tray/clock on my second monitor so I can see the time. It also doesn’t hurt to see your preferred notification icons for various things..
Cutting to the chase, here’s how to get it there:
- Right click the taskbar and select Properties.
- Under Multiple Displays, un-check Show taskbar on all displays, and Apply. Now the taskbar is only on your primary monitor..
- Click to drag your taskbar from the primary monitor to your secondary display.
- Back in the taskbar properties, re-check Show taskbar on all displays, and click OK.
Yes, it is THAT simple. Why Microsoft didn’t think of a simple checkbox, or better yet an option to show the tray and clock on ALL displays, I don’t know. I’m hoping perhaps the “Update 2” for 8.1 will possibly bring in the option to put it on all of your displays just because it looks a little weird not having it on the primary also…
