Windows Vista™ Inside Out

Using and Customizing Windows Sidebar

One of the most conspicuous new features in Windows Vista is Windows Sidebar, a repository for mini-programs (called gadgets) that can amuse, inform, and distract you all day long. By default, Windows Sidebar inhabits the right edge of your primary monitor, but you can move it to the left or to a secondary monitor. You can make it rise above all other windows at all times (so it can really inform or distract), you can make it start automatically when Windows starts (that’s its default behavior), and you can close and open it at will. Most important, you can easily add or remove gadgets whenever you feel the need for something new on your computer screen. The gadget gallery that comes with Windows includes ...