Windows Vista and Windows 7 Help » Sidebar

Find a Lost Gadget

Tony Northrup — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 20:56:11 +0000

Question:

I seem to have accidentally removed the “feed headlines” gadget from the Windows Vista gadget list.Â Â Â How can I get it back?

Answer:

Just follow these steps:

Right-click the sidebar and then click Add Gadgets.
Double-click Feed Headlines. Windows Vista adds your feed headlines gadget back into the sidebar.
Close the gadgets window.

Sidebar gadgets for geeks

Tony Northrup — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 21:53:58 +0000

We’re starting to see more reliable gadgets, so I thought I’d give another quick overview of my favorites (in order shown in the above screenshot):

Remote Desktop Gadget. Lets you type a hostname and connect using Remote Desktop. I wish it had a drop-list of recently used names.
Ping Gadget. Gives you an idea of your current network performance by showing ping latency to a host you specify (yahoo.com works if you can’t find a closer host).
Memory Meter. Shows your current memory utilization, your total memory, and the size of your paging file. Multi Meter (the next gadget) also shows you the memory utilization, so you can get away with just using that and save some space.
Multi Meter. Shows your processor and memory utilization. There are versions of this for quad, dual, and single-core computers (I have the dual-core). Check out the Gadget Gallery for other options.
Presto’s Hard Drive Monitor. Shows you the free space on any of your hard disks. View the options to pick the hard disks you view. I liked DriveInfo, too, but Presto’s is a little simpler.
IPConfig. Shows you your current IP address (you can pick from multiple network adapters). Great if you’re a mobile user, or if you use VPNs a lot.
Windows Firewall Profile (not shown above). Shows whether your current network profile is public, private, or domain. Good for mobile users who access public networks sometimes.

I also like the Outlook Upcoming Appointments gadget for Outlook 2007.

Shortcut Key to View the Sidebar and Gadgets

Tony Northrup — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 18:11:10 +0000

This clue is courtesy Microsoftie James. To instantly view your sidebar and any gadgets that you’ve pulled off the sidebar, hold down the Windows key and press the Space bar. In other words, +Space. They’ll instantly pop on top of your applications.

How to Write Gadgets

Tony Northrup — Mon, 15 Jan 2007 19:04:36 +0000

If you like those sidebar gadgets and you have any interest in development, check out OdeToCode’s article on developing gadgets for Windows Sidebar. Scott gives you an overview of the gadget platform and gets you started down the path of making your own gadget. I haven’t gotten around to making my own yet, but I’m very interested in it–looks like a fun way to develop. Let me know if you do something interesting with it.

Download Gadgets for your Sidebar

Tony Northrup — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 19:23:32 +0000

Vista comes with a handful of fairly useless gadgets, such as an analog clock (um, there’s a digital clock on the taskbar) and an RSS feed that only shows two or three words from each headline. The good news: you can download more free gadgets from the Windows Live Gallery.
Here’s a filtered list of sidebar gadgets for you to browse. That link’s a little flakey, so if nothing comes up, try refreshing it a few times.
Well, the availability of gadgets is pretty bleak now, but here’s a few I like:

Outlook info. Shows the number of unread messages in your inbox and upcoming appointments. Kudos to the author–he or she has really improved this from earlier versions. Right-click it and then click Options to select from different skins, including skins that don’t show tasks. If you have Outlook 2007, check out Outlook Upcoming Appointments, Outlook Tasks,
Calculator. Not as useful as Calc (click Start, type Calc, and then press Enter), but it’s nice that it’s always there.
Vista Calculator. Same thing, just a bit prettier. Note that you need to use the number pad on your keyboard or click the buttons with your mouse. The regular numbers won’t work (why?). If you pull it off the sidebar it adds a few features.
Ping Gadget. It pings a host you specify and charts how long it took. Basically, this shows you in real-time whether your Internet connection is reliable–useful if you have a flakey Internet connection.

If you have a gadget you want to suggest, please do add a comment below.

Drag gadgets off the sidebar

Tony Northrup — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 18:58:54 +0000

The sidebar is a convenient place to store gadgets, but you can put them anywhere on your desktop, and even keep them on top of other windows.

To move a gadget off the desktop, simply drag it with your mouse.

Now, to keep it on top of other windows, right-click it, and then click Always On Top. (screenshot after the jump)

Show blog updates in your sidebar

Tony Northrup — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 18:44:59 +0000

One of the first things you notice about Windows Vista is the sidebar. The sidebar has a few default gadgets, one of which can show updates (known as RSS feeds) from most of the websites you visit, including this one. Follow these steps to have update headlines appear on your desktop (more after the jump)

Visit the website you want to view the headlines from. You can open it in another tab.
On the Internet Explorer toolbar, towards the right, click the orange button.
Internet Explorer opens the RSS feed. Near the top of the page, click Subscribe to this feed.
When prompted, click Subscribe.

That’s all you have to do if you want to see this site’s updates mixed in with other site’s updates. If you only want to see updates from this site, follow these steps after completing the steps above:

Now, in your sidebar, right-click the RSS gadget, and then click Options.
In the Feed Headlines dialog, click Display this feed, and then click Vista Clues.
Click OK.

Now, whenever I add a post, you’ll see the headline in your sidebar. Click it to open it in your browser. You can also drag the whole gadget away from the sidebar to make it bigger.