Windows Vista Security: Praxisorientierte Sicherheit für Profis

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Chapter 2: Optimizing Windows Vista’s Interface

When you exit the sidebar, the sidebar and all open gadgets are closed regardless of

whether any of the gadgets are docked to the sidebar or are floating on the desktop. To

restart the sidebar and open your gadgets, click Start

➝ All Programs ➝ Accessories ➝

Windows Sidebar.

Managing Your Computer’s Gadgets

You can work with gadgets in a variety of ways. You can detach gadgets from the

sidebar and move them around the desktop by right-clicking a gadget and selecting

Detach from Sidebar. Once you’ve detached a gadget, you can click and drag to

move it to different locations on the desktop. To put the gadget back on the sidebar,

right-click the gadget and select Attach to Sidebar.

You can display a detached gadget on top of all other windows by right-clicking the

gadget and selecting Always on Top. Once you’ve moved the gadget to the top, right-

clicking the gadget and selecting Always on Top a second time clears the setting and

makes the gadget work like any other window—it can be brought to the front when

in use or put to the back when not in use.

Every gadget has an opacity setting that controls whether you can see through it.

Since the default opacity setting is 100 percent, you can’t see through gadgets by

default. If you want to be able to see through a gadget, right-click it, point to Opac-

ity, and then select the desired opacity. The lower the opacity setting is, the more

translucent the gadget will appear to be and the better you’ll be able to see what’s

behind it. The higher the opacity setting is, the less translucent the gadget will

appear to be and the less you’ll be able to see what’s behind it.

You can add gadgets to Windows Sidebar by following these steps:

1. Click the Add Gadgets button at the top of the sidebar. This opens the Gadget

Gallery dialog box.

2. In the Gadget Gallery dialog box, double-click each gadget you want to add to

the sidebar.

3. To find additional gadgets, click the “Get more gadgets online” link.

Figure 2-24. Exiting the sidebar

Using Gadgets and Windows Sidebar

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You can remove a gadget from Windows Sidebar or the desktop by right-clicking it

and selecting Close Gadget. When you are working with many gadgets, you’ll find

that the View Gadgets dialog box comes in very handy. You can display and work

with this dialog box by completing the following steps:

1. Right-click the Windows Sidebar notification icon and select Properties. This

displays the Windows Sidebar Properties dialog box.

2. Click “View list of running gadgets.” This opens the View Gadgets dialog box, as

shown in Figure 2-25.

3. In the View Gadgets dialog box, each running gadget is listed by name, version,

and author. To remove a gadget from the sidebar or the desktop, select it by

clicking it and then click Remove.

If for some reason the computer’s default gadgets were removed or modified, you

can restore the gadgets installed with Windows Vista by following these steps:

1. Right-click the Windows Sidebar notification icon and select Properties. This

displays the Windows Sidebar Properties dialog box.

2. Click “Restore gadgets installed with Windows.”

3. When prompted, confirm the action.

Figure 2-25. Viewing and closing running gadgets