 | By Ian “Gizmo” Richards I have dozens of utilities installed on my PC — but I’d like to tell you about two that are not well known, yet top the list of my favorites. These specialist tools are not for everybody, but if they apply to you, discovering them is going to make your day. |
Freeware lets two PCs share a keyboard and mouse
I normally work simultaneously with two PCs whose screens are stacked one above the other. It’s a highly productive arrangement: while one machine is tied up doing something, I can use the other to continue working.
This setup works amazingly well, because I control both PCs from the one keyboard and mouse, using an open-source freeware program called Synergy.
Synergy is like an electronic keyboard-video-mouse (KVM) switch. With a KVM, you swap your keyboard and mouse from one PC to the other by manually turning a switch. With Synergy, you just move your mouse to switch control between the two systems.
It works like this: if I’m using my laptop, I move the mouse to the top of the laptop screen, and the cursor miraculously appears on the monitor mounted above that belongs to the second PC. Automatically, the laptop mouse and keyboard are connected to my second PC.
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