Tricking Eye-One Match to work on a netbook monitor

So, being in charge of a print shop, I’m lucky enough to have access to an X-Rite i1 spectrophotometer. I’ve been setting up profiles for all my monitors at home and work. I was, however, having problems getting the software to run properly on my MSI Wind u100 netbook.

The major problem is the native resolution of the MSI (1024 x 600) coupled with the un-accessibly large size of the Eye-One Match window. It just doesn’t fit on the shorter 600 pixel screen thus making it impossible to hit the “next” arrow to continue with calibration.

My first thought was to find a way to extend the virtual resolution of my desktop. This is apparently very difficult to do with the Intel 945 graphics adapter on Windows 7. The final solution came to me almost accidentally. I realized I could set up a second external monitor to move the window outside of the normal desktop space on the main monitor. I set up the second monitor to extend the desktop from the primary display. Then, I moved the virtual position of the external monitor to appear above the default. By doing this, I was able to move the Match window slightly upwards into the second display and more easily access the next/previous buttons of the Match program.

Success!