Windows 7: Mouse Pointer Spotlight

I was using Windows 7.  I noticed that, in some online demo videos, people were able to have their mouse cursor highlighted, as if it were a flashlight.  I wanted to be able to do that.  I ran a search to find a freeware option.  I had to filter this search to find sites that seemed to be helpful.  I found there were some shareware options, including PointerFocus, MouseLight, and SpotOnTheMouse.  There were also some freeware options that looked interesting but didn't give me quite what I wanted, including the freeware MouseShade and Sonar.

At some point, I became aware of the obvious, which was that I could probably just tinker with the mouse cursor or maybe install a different kind of cursor, making it visible in the same way that a spotlight effect would.  Built-in options in Windows 7 (Control Panel > Mouse, Pointers tab and Pointer Options tab) included choosing a larger cursor and adding tails.  To expand on that, I ran a search, glanced at a webpage offering a free download of 7500 various kinds of mouse pointers, and then went to a Microsoft webpage explaining how to change the mouse pointer's appearance.  The basic idea here was that, in that same Control Panel > Mouse > Pointers tab, I could click Browse and see a boatload of cursor (.cur) and animation (?) (.ani) files that existed in C:\Windows\Cursors.

My guess was that I could probably do a search for additional .cur files and download them to that folder, and then they would hopefully be visible in that Pointers tab.  The Open Cursor Library looked like it might have a lot of cursor options.  I also looked cursorily at webpages on creating your own cursor, creating a cursor from an image, previewing a cursor, and using a custom cursor file.  But then I realized that -- damn, being a curser and all -- I had to get back to work.

Windows 7: KVM in a Multimonitor Setup

I was using two monitors with two computers.  After reflecting on multiple monitor possibilities, I installed an ASUS EN210 video card in each computer.  This allowed me to connect dual displays.  I decided that monitor A would be available to both computers, and monitor B would be available only to computer B.  To make this happen, I connected monitor A to a keyboard-video-mouse (KVM) switch.  So computer A was visible only on monitor A, whereas computer B was visible across the two monitors (assuming that's where I had the KVM set).

Problem:  every time I switched back to computer B on the KVM, monitor A would go blank.  This was not a problem when I was using the KVM only to switch the mouse and keyboard, leaving each monitor dedicated to one computer.  It arose only in the dual-monitor setup.  It seemed that the computer was not remembering the dual-monitor settings for monitor A on computer B.  Each time, I had to go back into Control Panel > Display > Change Display Settings > Detect.  (This KVM problem also seemed responsible for screwing up Adobe Acrobat 9. It was no longer remembering my toolbar settings the way I had previously set them. This seemed to be fixed by going into Acrobat's Help > Repair Acrobat installation.)

A search led to the suggestion that the problem I was having with monitor A was with the KVM:

It is a problem found with those KVM switches which did not pass the console display's EDID and DDC information to all the systems connected to the KVM switch. ...
Windows 7 checks display and display card constantly different from what XP and other operating systems did.
To solve this issue, just replace the KVM switch with those KVM switches supporting FULL TIME Active DDC function.
Please check ConnectPRO new UR or PR serial KVM switches which support Active DDC function to all the ports.

That post pointed me toward a Microsoft webpage with more technical information.  I did another search and saw references to ConnectPRO there too.  A different search suggested that lots of users were running into this problem.  Newegg's Power Search didn't offer an operating system selection, and they didn't seem to carry ConnectPRO KVMs.  A Google Shopping search led to two ConnectPRO KVMs, each costing at least $130.  I ran across a workaround suggestion to hit Win-D before and after switching with the KVM, but apparently that worked only with XBOXes, or anyway it didn't work for me.  There was another workaround, too technical for my blood.  Another thread prompted me to check for the most current driver for my ASUS EN210 graphics card.  As I recalled, the usual advice was to look for the latest drivers on the chipset manufacturer's webpage, so after consulting the details on the EN210, I went to the NVIDIA website and searched for GeForce 210 drivers.  I went with the most recent WHQL-certified driver.  After reboot, I saw that this did not solve the problem.  Note:  the machine had all current Windows updates at this point.

It seemed I had a choice.  I could go back to using one monitor per computer, or I could look for a hardware multimonitor solution.  Going back would mean waiting for Microsoft to fix this problem with Win7.  There was no guarantee that that would ever happen.  Basically, if I wanted multimonitor support for KVM-type functionality for two computers running Win7 (as distinct from one Win7 and one WinXP), it seemed I would either have to buy an expensive KVM or maybe come up with some other kind of funky plugging and switching.  For instance, I wondered whether I could make a go of it with two keyboards, two mice, and a switch just to flip monitor A from one computer to the other.  But this wouldn't circumvent the problem that Windows 7 was constantly polling the monitor, and that was the only thing that counted.  I found a device called the Geffen DVI Detective, which for $80 would remember the EDID and therefore defeat the problem (but only for monitors using DVI connectors).

Then I saw that Amazon carried a bunch of ConnectPRO KVMs, and some were far less expensive.  They did not carry the PR-12, which was the one PS/2 (as distinct from USB) KVM that ConnectPRO offered for my humble purposes:  two computers, one keyboard, one monitor, one mouse.  USB did not work reliably for both keyboard and mouse when Win7 was not running -- when, for instance, I was booting from a CD, or was adjusting the BIOS settings before the operating system booted.  But then I remembered that my new motherboards had only one PS/2 port, and the PR-12 would definitely require two (one each for keyboard and mouse).  I did have the option of using USB mice, one dedicated to each computer, and in fact had been doing that for a while, partly for the reason of pre-boot capability just mentioned and partly to reduce the strain on either wrist.  Another option was to use an adapter or some other gizmo to give me a second PS/2 port.

From ConnectPRO's product comparison page, it seemed there were several options to consider.  One was the choice between VGA and DVI.  DVI provided superior video, but VGA (using D-Sub connectors) was functioning well for me at the moment.  (DVI achieved using DVI-VGA adapters had, in my impression, the same risk of video problems as plain old VGA.)  It seemed that a couple of inexpensive video cards had eliminated problems of ghosting that I was getting when I had the monitors connected directly to the motherboards.  There was also the choice of two- or four-computer KVMs.  I needed only two.  Switching via hotkey was preferable to having to reach up and punch a button on the KVM in order to switch between computers.  All of the relevant ConnectPRO KVMs had All-time Full DDC, which was evidently the core need behind this KVM search.  ConnectPRO's Pro line of KVMs apparently did not have the Dynamic Device Mapping (DDM) technology that would remember attached USB peripherals (e.g., speakers, mice) and would thus eliminate lag time required for the switched computer to re-detect the devices.  It was confusing, shopping among these devices on Amazon, because there were various "kit" options that were described as "new" and yet did not appear on ConnectPRO's website, and also because now it started to look like some of these products did not have Full DDC and/or DDM.  What I came up with was a choice, for me, between the UR-12 PRO, with VGA and DDC but not DDM and no hotkey option ($102 with shipping from ConnectPRO through Amazon); the UR-12 PLUS, with VGA, DDC, DDM, and a hotkey option ($176); and the UD-12 PLUS, which was the same as the UR-12 PLUS but with DVI (and therefore with VGA as an option, via adapter) ($191 from a couple of sellers).

Since I was having no video issues at the moment, and might not have any again for some time, I decided to go with VGA rather than DVI, all other things being equal.  If I did get video problems, I could sell one KVM and upgrade to another later.  So then it was a question of whether I was willing to pay an extra $74 for DDM and a hotkey option.  DDM was nice -- I had noticed the lag in responsiveness at some point, hard to recall at the moment but apparently when I had upgraded from Windows XP to Windows 7 -- but that was not really bothering me much at present.  Those delays, and the hotkey, were especially important when I was doing a lot of switching between computers, which happened primarily when I was testing or tinkering with hardware or software on one machine and logging the developments on the other.  I was not presently doing much of that, and didn't plan to be doing much of it anytime soon.  It occurred to me that, if the DDM lags did bother me at such times, I could always dedicate one mouse, one monitor, and one keyboard to each computer at those times.  I could arrange that on my desk, and then the only lag would be the time needed to reorient my hands on the other keyboard.  Indeed, for purposes of working with the BIOS and such, I could simply keep a PS/2 keyboard always plugged in and standing off to the side of each computer, in addition to the USB keyboard connected to the KVM.  (PS/2 was not hot-swappable; it would be necessary to reboot to have the keyboard be recognized if it were not plugged in at time of bootup.)  Looking at the choice again, I reconsidered that the price difference between the UR-12 PLUS and the UD-12-PLUS was only $15.  From that perspective, I would choose the latter over the former, so as to wrap up the best product at not much additional cost; and in that case, the price difference between the solution with or without DDM, hotkey, and DVI was substantial:  the UD was almost twice the price of the UR.

As long as I was sure I did want to use dual monitors on computer B, sometimes swapping monitor A between computers A and B, I would need Full DDC, and it seemed the choice was then to spend $102 on a ConnectPRO UR-12 PRO KVM.  If I hadn't gotten the video cards for only $18 each, the decision to add dual monitor capability (with KVM and video cards) would then have cost me more than $150.  It was worth it -- dual monitor capability added a lot to a workspace -- but it was turning into more hassle and expense than it should have been.  I belatedly realized that perhaps I should have looked for a motherboard with dual monitor capability and with enough video memory so that the computer would not struggle to switch between windows on the same monitor, as computer A had been doing before I added the video card.  Desk space permitting, that kind of expense also raised the question of perhaps having three dedicated monitors -- one for computer A and two for computer B, and recabling one of the latter to computer A if a multimonitor need arose there -- thereby reducing the KVM need to a simple $20-30 device that would swap keyboards and mice, assuming those were not likewise dedicated to single machines.  The temptation to just get a third monitor and forget about the Full DDC KVM would be even stronger if I were looking at the nearly $200 price tag for a ConnectPRO UD-12 PLUS KVM.  But even without that, as I considered the time I had devoted to screwing around with KVMs, on this and on previous occasions, I did think that possibly the best approach would be to go with the third monitor, wait for someone to compete with ConnectPRO and/or for Microsoft to get its act together -- to buy a third monitor as an interim solution, in other words, and to sell it when and if a superior KVM alternative emerged.

Adding a PS/2 Port

I had always used PS/2 rather than USB mice and keyboards.  USB had the drawback of not being functional in some circumstances (e.g., when I was booting from some kinds of CDs, or was adjusting the BIOS settings before the operating system loaded).  This seemed to be true even when USB devices were enabled in BIOS.  Unfortunately, my new motherboard had only one PS/2 port.  I would now have to go with at least one USB device.  Between the two, USB mice seemed to function better than USB keyboards in the environments just mentioned, so I could live with a PS/2 keyboard and a USB mouse.

Problem:  I had two computers, and was using a keyboard-video-mouse (KVM) switch to share my mouse, keyboard, and monitor between the two computers.  Now I needed two PS/2 connectors unless I wanted to get a USB KVM, mouse, and keyboard.  I didn't want to spend the money, and I liked the PS/2 KVM better than what I was seeing in the USB KVMs.  So there was a question:  could I add a second PS/2 port to a computer with just one PS/2 port?

I tried using Y-splitter cables, which were physically able to connect two PS/2 devices to one PS/2 port.  But they didn't work:  only one device or the other (i.e., mouse or keyboard) would operate.  I ran a search and saw some references to adapters that would convert the computer's serial port to PS/2, though apparently that could have its complications.  The pictures looked familiar.  I dug around and found that I already had something like that.  I didn't want to reboot the computer right then to try it out, so I searched a bit more.  There seemed to be some USB to PS/2 adapters; presumably those wouldn't have the serial port problems.  I also found a PS/2 adapter backplate, which would have required an unused PS/2 header on the motherboard.  I wasn't sure if my mobo had one of those, but I could scope it out when I did shut down.

I wasn't sure which of these solutions I would ultimately wind up using, or even if I would definitely try to stick with PS/2 rather than USB.  This is as far as I took the question at this moment.

Windows 7: Multiple Monitors, Multiple Computers: Possibilities

I planned to be using Windows 7 on two computers.  At the start, I had two monitors, each dedicated to its own computer.  I wondered if I could set up the system so that I could use both monitors for computer A, and could also use both monitors for computer B.  I also wondered if I could use monitor A to see what was happening on both computers A and B at the same instant.

My first search led to ads for KVM switches, but that wasn't what I wanted.  I did look into KVM switches at Newegg, just in case someone had invented a switch that would do everything.  But then realized I wasn't going to read through all those product descriptions to see if any of them had the possibilities I wanted.  A different search got closer to what I wanted.  Actually, it went well beyond it.  There were possibilities I hadn't even imagined.

One possibility was that of Synergy, which had originally been Synergy and then became Synergy-Plus and was now back to being Synergy.  It looked like the Synergy concept ws that I could have two or more computers, each having its own monitor, and I could have just one keyboard and one mouse, and would move among these computers simply by moving the mouse to the left or right, until it left one monitor and then appeared on the next.  No KVM switch; just move the mouse to switch computers.  The connection was by ethernet -- just get all computers on the same network.  They said you could also copy and paste between the computers.  But apparently Synergy wasn't entirely stable yet; that was their stated goal for 2012. For that reason, I decided I would prefer a KVM for now, if necessary.  Presumably a problem with the network would render all computers other than the server (i.e., the one to which the keyboard and mouse were connected) unavailable.  Bruce Tyson pointed out that there would also be a problem if the user wanted to access the BIOS of a slave or client computer during bootup.  It seemed like it might be a good idea to have a spare keyboard and mouse handy.  Another possibility:  Input Director.  This Windows-specific freeware application seemed to have the same concept as Synergy.  These sorts of programs seemed to have the same idea as a KVM switch that would allow one keyboard (e.g., that on a laptop) to take control of another computer even if it did have its own keyboard and mouse.

Bruce Tyson also pointed me toward web-based sharing services, Virtual Network Computing (VNC), and remote desktop software.  These apparently all were, or could be, variations of "headless" computing, where the keyboard, video, and mouse (KVM) are all connected to just one computer, which is then linked to others whose contents may display on that monitor.  He also noted that some monitors have dual inputs, which could be plugged into separate computers, but that the user would have to switch between them using buttons on the monitor.  That would prevent simultaneous viewing of two computers and would also be klunky in daily use.

It seemed that GoToMyPC.com was one of the leading web-based services.  But when I looked into it, these appeared to be simply ways of accessing the computer remotely.  At $10/month or more, it was pricey.  LogMeIn and others seemed to offer good free alternatives.  I decided I didn't want a web-based service, even if it did exactly what I wanted, because it would be relatively slow and it would be vulnerable to anything that might go wrong with the modem, the network connection, etc.

According to Wikipedia, VNC was both platform-independent and remote-capable, and some versions were "optimised for Microsoft Windows."  A list of versions indicated that UltraVNC (free) was the most advanced mainstream version and was the basis for several others.  Current alternatives for connecting a few Windows PCs included EchoVNC (free), RealVNC (free+), SmartCode VNC Manager ($129+), SupportAnyPC ($149), TeamViewer (free), and TightVNC (free).  Among these, a RealVNC feature comparison page indicated that its free version was not compatible with Windows 7.  Wikipedia pages for the free versions indicated that RealVNC was similar to UltraVNC, but the latter had more features; EchoVNC differed from UltraVNC in being more firewall-friendly; Teamviewer was mostly for remote control of computers; and TightVNC likewise had spun off a firewall-friendly variant, RemoteVNC ($25 per computer), among others.  A Wikipedia comparison page, only in it formative stages at this point, named Skype, TigerVNC, and xpra as other free Windows-compatible remote desktop programs.  The Wikipedia pages just linked for those additions indicated that TigerVNC was a fork of RealVNC; that Skype was (of course) primarily for VoIP; and that xpra (currently a beta product) used an approach that differed from that of VNC; but it later looked like xpra was not for Windows.  For my purposes, the survivors of this discussion were EchoVNC, TigerVNC, TightVNC, and UltraVNC.

I looked at a Wikipedia page showing a comparison of Java remote desktop projects. I was not sure what this was about. The project that seemed most feature-rich at this point was WallCooler VPN, so I looked into that. This actually led to a page for Vedivi, which seemed to be in the business of giving people access to remote computers at a low monthly price.

Eventually I figured out that there are many remote desktop protocols.  VNC was one; Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) was a Windows-specific alternative.  There were others.  I eventually found a chart that, although officially for Mac, pulled together some of this.  Revisting the Synergy and Input Director webpages (above), I saw that Synergy was not a VNC project; I was not clear what type it was, and likewise for Input Director.  Supposedly Microsoft's own version of RDP was currently called Remote Desktop Services, previously Terminal Services; but when I went looking for it, I wound up in Remote Desktop Connection (RDC).  A search led me to a description that sounded like what I was looking for.  I wondered why someone would have bothered creating Input Director, with its Windows orientation, if this feature already existed in RDC.  I decided to start by trying to use RDC, to see what would happen.  That would be the subject of another post.

Two Computers: Dividing the Workload

In this post, as part of my New Year's housecleaning, I introduce several investigations, involving various ways of setting up two computers in a workspace.

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KVMs and Monitor-Sharing Options

I had developed the habit of working with two computers, using a KVM switch so I needed only one mouse and keyboard.  A KVM switch would let me use just one monitor with two computers:  it would be showing me what was happening on the computer that the mouse and keyboard were then connected to.

I had two monitors.  I didn't have them connected to the KVM.  Instead, I connected them directly to the two computers, one for each.  So the KVM switch would have me working on computer A or computer B, but monitor A would continue to show what was happening on computer A, and monitor B would continue to display the state of things on computer B.

Actually, one KVM had started malfunctioning, and I had replaced it with another.  In the process, I decided to disconnect the mouse from the KVM too.  So now the KVM just controlled the keyboard.  It made sense:  the keyboard was big.  I couldn't fit two keyboards on my desktop.  But I could fit two mice.  Mouse A, on the left side, was controlled by my left hand, and was controlling computer A, while mouse B was preoccupied with computer B on my right.  I wasn't sure if I liked this arrangement.  It had its advantages.  It gave my hands a more equal workout.  I could glance over at the other computer and click something, to make some process move ahead, without having to hit ScrollLock twice, which was how the KVM switched the keyboard back and forth.  The main problem was that it was hard to tell which computer the keyboard was controlling at any given time.  I was still occasionally hitting the Del key and deleting things on computer A and wondering why they weren't disappearing from monitor B.  It was a bit nutty.  But I was adapting and, like I say, it had its advantages, at least until I worked out something better.

The monitor situation was OK, too.  I had widescreen monitors, so I was able to accommodate a couple of different open windows at the same time on each of them.  But there were times when it would have been helpful to have both monitors attuned to just one computer.  I had previously used an arrangement where monitor A was dedicated to computer A, but monitor B was connected to a second KVM switch, so I could reach up and punch the button and switch monitor B back and forth between computer A and computer B.  This would let me use a multiple monitor approach on computer A, so as to spread out my work.  The problem with this was that, when there was no monitor turned on to computer B, I tended not to use it.  That was a problem because the purpose of having two computers was to let me continue to work when one of them would crash or need maintenance or get involved in some process, like scanning or rendering, that would make it virtually unavailable for other purposes.  I also used this arrangement to write these blog posts, tinkering with one machine and recording the steps in the other.  I found that, if I got too fixated on one computer, the other one tended not to be organized and capable enough to take over when I needed it.

There didn't seem to be a way to share one monitor between two computers simultaneously, with computer B running in a little window in the corner -- a real "monitor" as distinct from a big display.  There was the option of buying a little display, connecting it to the second DVI connector on computer B, and putting it off to the side, so I would always have that information about what was happening on computer B.  But that little monitor would cost more than $100.  I could probably go down to Goodwill and pick up an old CRT for less than $10, but the other problem was that it would still be more clutter, more heat, more power consumption.  And the desk didn't have room for it, so it would have to go onto a side table or shelf or something.  I would also need a video card, since my motherboard only supported one monitor.

A decision on that question of how to use multiple monitors would await the outcome of an investigation of various non-KVM strategies.

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Dual-Booting and Virtual Machines

Over the past couple of years, my two computers had different missions.  Computer A was running Windows XP in a VMware virtual machine on Ubuntu.  Computer B was running WinXP natively.  Now I was moving away from Ubuntu and back to Windows.  I had planned to just install Windows 7 on both.  I'd been having problems with my WinXP installation on computer B, even when I restored from an image, so it seemed like a good time to upgrade rather than continue to fight it.

I liked the idea of dual-booting WinXP and Win7.  Actually, though, I rarely used my dual-boot setups.  I pretty much always went with one or the other.  Right now, for instance, I already had a dual-boot Ubuntu and WinXP setup on computer B, but I couldn't remember the last time I had gone into Ubuntu there.

Meanwhile, on computer A, it seemed like I should consider just replacing Ubuntu with Win7:  continue to run WinXP in a virtual machine (VM), that is, but run it on Windows 7 instead of Ubuntu.  This would give me access to the familiar way of doing things in WinXP, while easing the transition to Win7.  I looked into the VM option in more detail.  It looked like I would be able to use the Windows version of VMware Workstation as long as I wasn't using my Workstation license in Ubuntu.  So the tentative plan was to have WinXP running in VMware on Win7 on one machine, while just running Windows (either XP or 7) natively (i.e., without a VM) on the other.

Although I was moving away from Ubuntu, it occurred to me that this strategy would leave a door open for a possible return to Ubuntu.  Ubuntu had been far more stable than WinXP.  Assuming the virtualization setup worked, I could install Ubuntu as a VM on Win7, essentially reversing what I had tried to do previously, and I could thus continue to identify projects and programs that Ubuntu could handle just as well as Windows for my purposes.

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Differences Between Machines

The decisions described above meant that, contrary to my assumptions, I probably should not set up identical hardware on both computers.  Computer A was probably going to need more muscle to handle the VMs.  WinXP on computer B had been struggling to run video editing software, though that may have been due to a flawed installation.

Part of the tradeoff here was simplicity versus options.  The more operating systems and hardware arrangements I had in play, the more different ways I had of configuring things, and the more time it would take.  I had always viewed the computer hobbying as a means to an end of being more productive, while having its own intrinsic interest too, and for that reason I had tended to think, in recent years, in terms of getting myself set up for the next six months or a year.  During that kind of timeframe, the problems of a setup would tend to emerge and sometimes become overwhelming.  The current Windows XP installation was a case in point.  I had been able to nurse it along despite its obvious dysfunctionality, occasionally replacing its current state with an Acronis image backup, but it was now crashing one or more times per day.  So, oddly, in this case it was the simpler installation that had become the more problematic.

The switch from Windows XP to Windows 7 probably meant that I would be spending quite a bit of time getting up to speed on the best way to configure the latter.  I was probably going to install it in a RAID array, for purposes of performance, with an external backup option.  There would be some things to figure out and play with.  Most likely, some hardware would be getting shuffled around.  So, contrary to my first thoughts during this particular housecleaning, it did not appear likely that the two computers would take on any clear definition:  they would not be mirror images of one another, in hardware terms, so as to simplify maintenance, and they would also not feature one being considerably more powerful than the other.  The plan for the coming six months to a year was just to make them both capable and to explore options without investing more time than I wanted to spare for this kind of project.

Since I was now in a period of computer housecleaning, it seemed likely that my posts over the next few weeks would explore these considerations in more detail.