applications moving screens when second monitor is powered up

Hello 

So when im just reading the web or watching youtube videos I will only have one monitor active and the other (my primary) will be off its 1440p UW monitor 21:9 ratio so not well suited to most web browsing and video watching so I choose to turn it off when not in use, 

The problem arises when I decide to do some gaming or 3d work ill turn the other monitor on when I do this any windows folders or applications swap over to that monitor and ill have to move them all back. I would like to know if there is a way to make those applications/windows/folders/browser persist on the 16:9 (secondary monitor) its a pain in the rear to always have to move the windows back from the much larger resolution screen as all the full screened applications/windows/browser/folders are blown up in size to suit the larger resolution. 

I have read multiple unhelpful articles about the pc going to sleep or hibernation etc etc but this is not applicable to my situation as my pc is basically always on. 

Any help sorting this out would be greatly appreciated to myself and what appears to be many others. 

Thank you for your time. 
hi Cmoller. II'm Greg, awarded MVP for eleven years, Volunteer Moderator, and Independent Advisor here to help you until this is resolved.

1) The Display driver is so important here that merely updating it is sometimes not enough. So let's try everything possible to get it working correctly:

Update the Display driver from the PC or Display adapter maker's Support Downloads web page for your exact model number, HP Serial Number or Dell Service Tag - from the sticker on the PC.

While there check also for newer chipset, BIOS/UEFI firmware (very important), network, sound, USB3 and other drivers, comparing to the ones presently installed in Device Manager reached by right clicking the Start Menu.

If this doesn't give you the latest or ideal driver for what you need, compare it to the driver offered by the Intel driver update Utility here: http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/...
or the Nvidia Update utility here: http://www.nvidia.com/Download/Scan.aspx?lang=e...
or the AMD autodect utility here: http://support.amd.com/us/gpudownload/windows/P...

For Display issues one fix that is working is to Roll back or Uninstall the Driver on the Display Device > Driver tab, restart PC to reinstall driver.

You can also try older drivers in Device Manager > Display device > Driver tab > Update Driver > Browse > Let Me Pick.

Then you will know you've tried everything in addition to Windows Update drivers.

Adjust the screen resolution until it fits and looks best at Settings > System > Display.

2) See here How to make a program open on a specific monitor in Windows 10

3) Sometimes it's not possible to control them without special software explained here:
https://helpdeskgeek.com/free-tools-review/best...

I hope this helps. Based on what you report back I can answer any questions and may have other steps to perform.

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Thanks for the rather fast reply. 

I'm pretty nifty with the old computer so I keep it up to date in regards to drivers and bios ,I should've stated that above.

as for the Icons link you posted that's not the issue and id expect them to bounce back to the primary screen when its powered on. 
I would have thought windows would have a persistent setting or be smart enough to know we might want those windows to stay on that screen. from what I can tell its something to do with the screen that you set to be the primary as in a previous setup with 2x 16:9 monitors I would turn the secondary monitor on for say watching a tutorial video while working in a 3d program and move the browser window to the secondary screen and continue in the primary screen while watching the video, when the secondary screen was turned on the windows would persist on the primary as desired. 

A software solution isn't desirable to have for what one would think should be pretty straight forward "nice to have" 
Those other software solutions seem pretty niche and geared towards other use cases which don't apply to my situation.  
the only one in that list of software is the multimonitor tool that comes close to being what I want alas the user material states its for enabling/disabling monitors and for moving applications from one screen to another not fixing them to one screen once one is powered up.  
I prefer to only have the software/games I want and leave all the typical bloatware out of my system. I could see such a solution causing issues with other aspects of computer use down the line. 

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Yeah, the Dual Monitor setup should keep the taskbar and Desktop icons on the primary screen and learn where you want apps opened. The only other thing I can think of is to not power off the secondary since you don't' power off the PC.

I also found this article I thought I had given you forcing apps to open on specific monitor: https://www.thewindowsclub.com/how-to-force-app...

Keep me posted.  

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I mean opening windows once the primary screen is on is fine. 
If I close the application it will open again to the screen it was closed on (if that screen is on) 
If that screen isn't on 90 % of programs will open on the secondary screen some don't but that's application specific. 

The issue is when the primary screen is turned on all running applications move to the primary. 
Yeah I could leave it on all the time but id rather keep it off to avoid image burn and maintain its running lifetime also its in my room and the glow of it being on is a pain when watching a movies so not entirely desirable either. I usually have multiple windows open on my secondary, discord, remote desktop connections, CMD windows running mining software and various other things I like to have constantly on hand media player and so on.  
I noticed on that link you sent there was a tip at the end, it has never worked for me no matter what program I try it with 
"TIP: WinKey+Shift+Left/Right will move the open window to another monitor in the same relative position."
This doesn't work for me at all, how ever using the down arrow will minimize the program.

Thanks for the effort I suppose I'll just live with it such a small thing shouldn't be so hard to find a solution for, its already been a year whats another gonna hurt 

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Nothing else in the tutorial helped? Did you try everything?

You said you were worried about burn-in which was only an issue with the oldest CRT monitors. Is this monitor that old? If so then that is likely the problem.
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Last updated May 1, 2024 Views 27,325 Applies to: