6 Vista Sidebar Gadgets that are useful

I always thought that the Windows Vista sidebar was nice to look at but not very useful. It uses system resources to display a clock or some other gadgets that have pretty much no value at all in my daily routine. I did not want to just remove the sidebar without researching if there were gadgets that were actually that useful that I decided to keep the sidebar and use at least some of the gadgets all the time. Space is limited and I run some all of the time and some only if I need that information.

While browsing the Windows Live Gallery website I noticed that the best rated gadgets hat only a rating of 3 stars out of 5 possilbe which is a little bit strange to say the least. I’m using the Ebay sidebar tool, the Gmail gadget, the run gadget and the app launcher all the time while I use the battery monitor only if I’m using the notebook on the road.

1. Ebay Sidebar Tool – May display information about current sales, the watchlist and items that you bid on. Includes a quick search as well. Works with all localized eBay websites.
2. App Launcher – Add icons to the app launcher box which can be used to start software that is installed on your computer. Similar to a quick launch function.
3. Battery Monitor – Vista is running on my Toshiba notebook and it is nice that I can use the Battery Monitor to keep an eye on the battery level of my notebook. Pretty useful.
4. Run – Launch applications,open folders or open urls by typing their names in the run box.
5. Binsearch Sidebar – Binsearch is a great site that spiders Usenet posts on their site and makes those posts searchable. Now you can search using the sidebar gadget instead of going to the site first.
6. Gmail Reader – notifies you when you have new mail in your inbox. Can also display a summary of the 20 latest messages.

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Author: Martin Brinkmann, Sunday April 8, 2007 -
Tags:Gadgets, microsoft, vista-gadgets, vista-sidebar, windows-vista

Responses so far:

1. QuagmireII says:

   April 8, 2007 at 11:00 pm

   Hey just wanted to tell you that the Gmail reader link is wrong it goes to Binsearch Sidebar…

   Correct link
   http://gallery.live.com/liveItemDetail.aspx?li=d103d744-cc42-41d3-9a5a-0f5f92e84062&l=1

   Reply
2. Martin says:

   April 8, 2007 at 11:20 pm

   Thanks, fixed it ;)

   Reply
3. johntash says:

   April 9, 2007 at 4:11 am

   The app launcher and weather gadgets are about the only useful ones I use :)

   Reply