When the Gadgets window appears, double-click the gadget you want to add (see Figure 2). To add a new gadget to your desktop, right-click anywhere on the desktop then select Gadgets from the pop-up menu. Adding New Gadgets to the DesktopĪll gadgets sit directly on the Windows 7 desktop. Instead, Windows 7 enables you to place gadgets directly on the desktopno Sidebar required. Windows gadgets proved popular enough to survive the death of the Sidebar, which was removed from Windows 7. The company first introduced gadgets in Windows Vista, as part of Vista's Sidebar. With all these competing gadgets, Microsoft actually was a little late to the game. And in the world of Apple computers, the Dashboard enables users to add a variety of widgets to the Mac desktop. Google Desktop, for example, includes among its many functions a variety of gadgets that dock onto the Desktop's sidebar. In time, other companies embraced the gadgets paradigm. You can download a whole variety of Yahoo! Widgets these widgets operate similarly to Windows gadgets. (Widgets are just another name for gadgets.) Konfabulator was subsequently purchased by Yahoo!, resulting in the now-renamed Yahoo! Widgets. The first of these small content modules originated with a company called Konfabulator, which created what it called widgets for the desktop. The concept of gadgets didn't start with Microsoft, however. For that reason, I'm a big fan of gadgets I think you will be, too.įigure 1 A variety of gadgets on the Windows 7 desktop. It's handier to have content modules floating on the desktop than to dig through layers of menus to open each application individually (see Figure 1). Gadgets are designed to put content, information, and functions at your fingertips. What's not to like? Understanding Windows 7 Gadgets They're easy to find, easy to install, and easy to useand they're completely free. Gadgets are a great way to add functionality to Windows without installing full-blown, resource-intensive software programs. There are gadgets that display current weather conditions, stock prices, or news headlines gadgets that monitor your PC's performance, wireless connection, or notebook battery life gadgets that let you play games, listen to music, or display photo slideshows. While you might have lots of technological gadgets lying around your house, in the world of Windows a gadget is a small utility application that sits directly on your desktop and performs a single simple function.
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