This tip is for anyone with a Windows laptop who has a second monitor on their desk and runs it in dual monitor mode (or is considering that). There are times when the laptop will be on the road, as laptops are wont to do, without the benefit of that second monitor. That spells trouble for certain software that knows how to play nice, but not super-nice.
Most software is considerate enough to remember the current size and position of the window when exiting. It’ll then use those settings the next time the program is opened. The idea is that since that’s where you placed it last time, that’s probably where you’ll want it to be again next time. That’s playing nice. The problem is, if the last time you had it on the secondary monitor, but this time the secondary monitor is not active, then the software should automatically reposition itself to the primary monitor. That’s playing super nice. Unfortunately, not all software thinks to do that (that is, not all programmers think to do that).
So, how do you rescue a wayward program from the phantom second monitor, when you can’t see it, and thus cannot manipulate it with the mouse? The trick involves the Task Bar and the arrow keys.
SQLyog is an example of a program that doesn’t recognize when the second monitor is inactive. (SQLyog is an otherwise excellent program for working with MySQL databases.) When a program is lost on the second monitor, you will see evidence of it in the form of a “minimized icon” in the task bar. Right clicking on the minimized icon brings up a context menu that is known as the “system menu.”
This is the exact same system menu that you would normally see by right clicking on the program’s icon in the upper left corner of the window (if you could see the window).
One of the choices in the system menu is “Move.” When you select Move, the mouse cursor changes to a move cursor (a four headed arrow), and the keyboard goes into move mode. This means that the arrow keys on the keyboard now control placement of the program window. So, depending on whether the secondary monitor is normally to the right, or to the left, of the primary monitor, you’ll want to press down on the left-arrow key or the right-arrow key, letting the keyboard auto repeat, until the program window appears on the primary screen.
Once the window is visible, press the Enter key. That will restore the keyboard from move mode to normal mode, and the mouse cursor will change back from the move cursor to a regular cursor.