














In Windows Vista, there was a new feature called Windows Sidebar. This contained Gadgets, small information tools enabling you to organise information that you want to access quickly without cluttering your work place. It was both innovative and entertaining.
The sidebar features on the right-hand side of your desktop. You can populate it with gadgets available in the Gadget List window.
While it was a fun thing to add Vista’s Sidebar and Gadgets to your desktop, its main disadvantage was that it took up valuable real estate. This is not to say you couldn’t uninstall it.
You can temporarily remove the Sidebar from your Desktop. This illustration shows you how.
Desktop Gadgets are practical mini applications, offering information at a glance and providing easy access to frequently used tools. Gadgets keep you in touch with the world.
For example, you can add a gadget that displays the weather. Once connected to the Internet the weather gadget’s information is updated regularly. The Feed Headlines gadget displays the latest news headlines. There are many gadgets available.
These are the Windows 7 Desktop Gadgets. Most of the Gadgets are the same as they were in Vista but there are two new ones.
There is a similar set of Gadgets available in Windows 7. Gone are Notes and Contacts from Vista’s set being replaced by UBD Radio (an Internet connection) and Windows Media. These two gadgets can be a bit of fun.
However, with Vista’s Sidebar relegated to the dustbin of history, Windows 7’s Desktop Gadgets are now more flexible, you can place them anywhere around your screen.
Personally, I find the most useful gadgets to be the Clock, the Weather and the Calendar.
Now, let set about finding some gadgets.
After loading your gadgets your Desktop will look something like this.
If you need to remove a gadget here’s how you go about it:
When you add the Weather gadget, by default, it is set to New York. This is fine if you live there.
To changet to your locality, follow these steps:
- Search for your location
- Set the Temperature
We’ll start with the location.
Now when you load the Weather gadget, it’s pretty small. Here you’ll learn how to re-size it. Not only is is bigger and easier to read but it contains more information.
Now there are numerous things you can do with these gadgets but to finish off by tinkering with the clock settings.You can make these changes by accessing the toolbar and using the spanner button.
Here you can change the clock’s face, change the clock’s name, change the time zone and add a second hand to the clock. The illistration below shows you where these changes can be made.