External monitor only shows desktop, please help

Hi all, some help please,
sorry if this question has been posted before.
I have a Toshiba Satellite P100, the operating system is Windows XP home.
I am trying to view my laptop through a plasma tv. I have connected it with a 15 pin vga lead to the pc input on the tv. In control panel, ‘display properties’- ‘settings’ I’ve enabled the other monitor, and both show they are active, pressed apply and save.
The problem is that on the tv, it shows only the start up through to the desktop picture on the tv, but it stops there, I get a great picture, but that’s all; there are no desktop icons or taskbar! (although they show on the pc)
If (on the pc) I go to the internet, or put a dvd in the drive, the screen on the tv goes blank.
Pressing hotkeys FN F5, I can toggle between the options but no matter which one I choose, it still goes no further than the desktop. I tried lowering the screen resolution on the other monitor, but the problem persists.
Am I missing something? After all this is the first time I tried this. I have this great music visualisation software, and it would be really cool to view it on a big screen .
Thanks for your time!

Cheers, Dave

 

Your screen may be stretching across two screens. Try moving windows onto it, see if they appear. If they do, then go into display properties and select 'this is my primary monitor'.

 

It sounds like you have it set up as extended. This means that you can put different thing on both desktops. If you want to see something on the TV, try dragging and dropping it over the edge of tne monitor and onto the TV. You can change which edge you want to drag it over also in the setting panel.

If you want the TV to look like the desktop try setting it to clone. The resolutions may not match perfectly though.

You need to play around with the setting and watch what happens to learn how to do it.

 

Thanks for your suggestions, I will have another play with it, not sure how to set it to clone but I will have a go at dragging it over to the tv.

appreciate your help,

Dave

 

Ok guys, I have resolved the situation, thanks to you two for pointing me in the right direction! yes cat mom, I could indeed drag the desktop to the plasma screen. I then (through control panel) clicked on the nvidia icon, then the display wizard - custom set-up, there I found the clone option, clicked to apply; and it had the desired effect. so thanks Mr._Kubelwagen!
I had to mess around with the resolution settings, and it now does what I wanted. I can now visualize my music on the big screen, and it looks awesome.

what visualization software? why G-Force Platinum if anyone's interested. It has a stand alone player that monitors line-in. (no I'm not an agent for them!)

once again thanks guys!

Dave