It actually can be as easy as plug-and-play, assuming you have a graphics card which supports it.

If your monitor uses DVI input then you need to find a graphics card which has dual DVI ports, or DUAL VGA if required (most don't have VGA these days though but you can buy an adapter).

You can buy graphics cards at http://newegg.com for a good price.

Once you have a graphics card with dual ports, plug in both monitors and if you are using windows the second monitor should come up on its own. You can then configure how you want the second monitor to behave via your graphics card's control panel.

Here's a video displaying how to do it on MS Vista with an Nvidia card.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEBMX_McXEU

Doing it with ATI is similiar.
Source(s):
I'm using dual monitor setup on my machine.

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You did not tell us whether you have a PC, Mac, desktop, laptop..

FOR DESKTOPS:

First determine whether you have a dual monitor port. Track down where your monitor is plugged in behind the computer. If it is grouped with all of the other plugs (USB, firewire, yada yada), it is probably internal video. You have two choices at this point:

a) get an additional video card and use the PC's integrated video along with this new card
b) get a card that has two video outputs, and bypass the internal video card

Most modern PCs use PCI-express cards. You can pay as little or as much as you'd like, depending on what you want to do with the card. If you just want to do minimalist business tasks, get the cheapest card you can - it will still do what you need to do. If you want to play modern games (if your computer is up to speed), you will need a $125+ card.

With modern operating systems, this is a fairly simple process software wise. Simply open either the native display properties and enable the secondary monitor, or use the wizard that is included with the video card you purchase (it usually has its own software that lets you adjust your dual monitor setup step by step). See below for more information.

FOR LAPTOPS:

Find out if there is a docking station available for your model. This is the easiest way to set up multiple displays. If you do not have a docking station option, then you may at least have a "port expander" that allows the addition of video. The other option is a product called Dual (or Triple) Head 2 Go made by Matrox. This allows a horizontal spread over 2 or 3 monitors, but from my experience this limits some of your functionality (as opposed to a legitimate second card).

*EDIT I see you added info - from your description, it sounds like you are using integrated video. I would advise getting a single dual head PCIe card.
Source(s):
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/using/setup/learnmore/northrup_multimon.... FOR WINDOWS XP
http://www.multi-monitors.com/product_p/dh2go-1.htm DualHead2Go

In the old days, I sat up lawyer, doctor, dentist, stockbroker workstations... one broker had a 10 monitor setup... SWEET.
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/Windows/en-US/help/90b6964d-2673-40e5-9fdf... For Windows Vista

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