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5 Windows Desktop Hardware Gadgets

Martin Brinkmann — Fri, 07 May 2010 18:07:49 +0000

Gadgets, love them or leave them. Microsoft introduced sidebar gadgets in Windows Vista and improved the way they were handled in Windows 7. Gadgets are small programs that run on the computer desktop. They were limited to the sidebar in Vista, a limitation that was removed by Microsoft in Windows 7.

Gadgets can be helpful depending on a user’s work situation. Gadgets are available for all kinds of tasks from displaying hardware information to Internet search forms and multimedia players.

This article reviews five desktop gadgets that are hardware related. Their usage as well depends on the user’s situation. A desktop computer users will not necessarily run a gadget that is displaying the remaining battery power while a netbook user might not be interested in the a gadget that displays the load of each cpu core.

Notebook Info 2

The name of the gadget already implies that it has been designed for mobile computer systems like netbooks or notebooks. It can display a variety of information including battery level and status, WiFi network status, cpu and ram usage, power-plans, uptime, a clock, alarm and calendar and more.

The settings can be used to display only the relevant items on the computer desktop. It is for instance possible to get rid of the calendar if that is not needed.

download it here

All CPU Meter

This gadget displays cpu related information including the used, free and total computer memory and the load on each cpu core. It did however detect eight cores on our quad-core test system.

download it here

Drives Meter

Can display hard drive information like the number of used, free and total space of each hard drive. A total of six hard drive partitions can be configured in the gadget’s options.

download it here

Wired Network Meter

This gadget displays many network information like the internal and external IP address or the up and downstream of the selected network adapter.

download it here

Wireless Network Meter

From the same developer as the wired network meter but created for wireless connections. It displays the same information as the wired network meter plus information about the connection (secure, not secure) and the signal.

download it here

The gadgets should be compatible with both Windows Vista and Windows 7. Interested users can browse the more than 3800 gadgets offered at the Windows Live Gallery for other gadgets.

What’s your take on Windows gadgets? Are you using them at all? If so, which are you using?

Where Are Gadgets Stored In Windows?

Martin Brinkmann — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 07:32:43 +0000

I have reviewed a Windows gadget two days ago that allowed anyone to display images made by a webcam on the computer desktop. The developer pulled the gadget from the website after the review and one commenter asked if anyone had downloaded the gadget from the site and could put it online so that everyone could download it.

I had deleted the downloaded gadget installation file but noticed that the gadget was still listed in the gadget list. Figured that it had to be stored somewhere if it appeared in that list and decided to search for the gadgets location in Windows.

Turns out there is more than one location where Windows 7 and Windows Vista are storing gadgets. The common locations for saving gadgets in Windows are either Program Files\Windows Sidebar\Gadgets or Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Sidebar\Gadgets.

The third party gadget that I had installed was stored in the AppData folder where all third party gadgets had been saved by Windows. Each gadget is stored in its own folder and it is possible to copy that folder and add it to another Windows installation so that the gadget becomes available there as well.

Hope this helps anyone running Windows Vista or Windows 7 to locate the gadgets in their operating system as well.

7 Email And Notification Gadgets For Windows 7

Martin Brinkmann — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:34:27 +0000

Microsoft has changed the way gadgets behave in Windows 7. Gadgets in Windows 7 can be moved freely around on the computer desktop unlike how they were initially implemented in Windows Vista where they were locked in a sidebar. The following list contains ten email and notification gadgets for Windows 7 (or Windows Vista). These gadgets display information and notifications about online services such as Facebook and Twitter or software programs like Outlook or Skype on the Windows desktop. Some of them even come with additional functionality like being able to send status updates to the online service or chatting with friends right from the desktop without having to open the software program to do so.

Facebook Explorer

Facebook Explorer is a popular gadget that can be used to read new messages that are posted by friends at the Facebook website. It is furthermore possible to set or delete the current status of the user’s Facebook account from within the gadget. The gadget needs to be authorized before it can be used. This is done during setup where the gadget will display links to Facebook so that it can be authorized. A Facebook login is necessary for that authorization.

My Outlook

A gadget that displays Outlook information including incoming appointments and tasks, a search box to find contacts, incoming mails with options to reply, forward, delete, open or save attachments and more.

GMail Reader

The Gmail Reader gadget will check a configured Gmail account for new emails regularly. It will display a summary of the latest 20 received emails and notify the user with a sound alert if new emails have arrived in the Gmail account.

Twitter Explorer

The Twitter Explorer gadget will display the latest messages that the logged in Twitter user received with possibilities to reply immediately to those messages and to open links that have been posted in the messages. The gadget offers a search and filters to only display replies or mentions.

Messenger Gadget

The Messenger Gadget displays Windows Live Messenger account information. It displays contact status information and allows the user to start chat session and update the status right from the Messenger gadget.

Pop3 Checker

A handy gadget for users who use Pop3 email accounts informing the logged in user about new emails that arrived in the email accounts.

Skype Gadget

The Skype Gadget is a little informative gadget for the Skype voice over IP software. It displays the status of each contact in Skype with possibilities to immediately initiate a chat or call with the selected user. It is furthermore possible to dial any number in the gadget as well.

And that’s it. These seven gadgets should come in handy for Windows 7 and Windows Vista users. Let us know in the comments if you use these or others in the supported operating systems. You can check out the Windows Live Gallery for thousands of additional gadgets for both Windows 7 and Vista.

Update: Microsoft has retired the Windows Live Gallery in preparation of the upcoming Windows 8 operating system. You can read more about the topic here: Microsoft Retires Gadgets In Preparation Of Windows 8 Launch

Convert Web Widgets to Vista Sidebar Gadgets

Martin Brinkmann — Mon, 21 May 2007 12:10:15 +0000

I have talked to several Windows Vista users and all told me that they did not use the Vista sidebar because of the lack of good gadgets that could be shown there. Sure, some are really nice but the majority is utterly useless. Why would I want another clock in there for instance ?

The Amnesty Generator (Windows, Macintosh) tries to fill this gap by providing a clever way to convert thousands of web widgets to Vista gadgets that can be placed in the sidebar. The program is free and absolutely easy to use. All it needs is the html code of the widget to automatically convert it into a Vista sidebar gadget. The html code is displayed when you select a widget from the many databases that offer them.

It is for instance possible to add Google Gadgets, feed from Grazr, Youtube videos or games from several arcades to the Vista sidebar.

The Amnesty Generator has a large list of websites that offer web widgets which can be accessed by visiting them in your default browser. All you need to do is find the code to embed the widget into your own website and copy that code from the website.

Paste it into Step 2 of the Generator and customize the Sidebar gadget further by assigning a name and width & height for it. Those values are filled out automatically but you can change them if you want. Last but not least you can add an image which can be used to recognize the vista gadget in the gadget browser.

source: Windows Vista Tweaks