In general, your best and highest resolution monitor ought to be hooked up to your best video card, and that should be set as your primary display. That way, when you play games or do other applications that will only work on the primary monitor, you’ll have your best display there.

To enable the second display, just go to Control Panel -> Display and then the settings tab. You’ll see 2 displays like this:

The primary display is the one with the big ‘1′ on the screen. The secondary display has a ‘2′ on the screen. The dashed lines around the secondary display mean that it is not currently enabled. To enable it, first click on that display (or select it from the Display dropdown), set the screen resolution and color quality/depth to what works best, and then select “Extend my Windows desktop onto this monitor.” The screens will flash off and on, and then both screens will be enabled.

Each monitor has its own properties section that you can view by double-clicking that monitor. If you are using CRT monitors, you may want to go to the monitor properties and put the refresh rates on the highest working value so you’ll have reduced flicker and eyestrain.

Now, you can move the second monitor to any orientation you would like to the primary monitor. Just click and drag monitor 2 in Display properties. In general, you want the orientation in Display properties to match your monitor setup in the real world so you can just move the mouse where it needs to go, and it will move there.

To move an application from one monitor to another, just make sure the application is not maximized and the click/drag the title bar of the window over to the monitor where you want it. If you press the maximize button now, it will maximize itself just on that monitor. If you close an application on the secondary display, it will usually open up on that display again, assuming it is still connected to the computer.