Just 1 of all those you shoed up there is useful: the weather one.
The CPU meter is ugly! Check out "All CPU Meter" and others... are amazing.
Good luck in your research
10 plus must have Windows 7 Desktop Gadgets
by Mark Kaelin | August 5, 2010 4:50am PDT | Image 1 of 29
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Desktop Gadget interface
Desktop Gadgets in Microsoft Windows 7 are more sophisticated and more useful than in previous versions of the operating system. Here are 10+ gadgets that should be in your desktop management portfolio.
Note: Earlier Deb Shinder gave us her Top 10 Windows 7 desktop gadgets and while there are some similarities between our lists, there are also some significant differences.
To get to the Windows Desktop Gadgets installation application, search Gadgets in the Start menu search box. You will be presented with a list of gadgets already installed onto your system. Click the details button to reveal more information about each gadget.
Images by Mark Kaelin for TechRepublic.
Note: Earlier Deb Shinder gave us her Top 10 Windows 7 desktop gadgets and while there are some similarities between our lists, there are also some significant differences.
To get to the Windows Desktop Gadgets installation application, search Gadgets in the Start menu search box. You will be presented with a list of gadgets already installed onto your system. Click the details button to reveal more information about each gadget.
Images by Mark Kaelin for TechRepublic.
Talkback Most Recent of 46 Talkback(s)
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nanomartin5th Aug 2010 -
RE: 10 plus must have Windows 7 Desktop Gadgets
@nanomartin your Mr. Sunshine today I see.
ItsTheBottomLine5th Aug 2010 -
RE: 10 plus must have Windows 7 Desktop Gadgets
@ItsTheBottomLine
He's right. That and the currency converter. The rest is junk.
LTV105th Aug 2010 -
RE: 10 plus must have Windows 7 Desktop Gadgets
@ItsTheBottomLine He's right. Worse still, a good chunk of those come with Windows, so you don't need to get them, you have them...and almost everyone that reads ZDNET already knows that.
Wunderground and proweather are both better than the weather bug that comes with windows (not that the windows version is bad). Addgadget's CPU Usage and network meter are better essential tools. I'd never use the one built into windows...it's fugly and provides less useful information.
notsofast6th Aug 2010 -
RE: 10 plus must have Windows 7 Desktop Gadgets
@nanomartin I agree. I don't understand the title of the article. Most the the gadgets he talks about have been around since day one It seems what this slide show is saying is "after 3 years there are still very few good windows gadgets" zdnet has a lot of lame articles. Some good but I almost find it 50/50.
bellum805th Aug 2010 -
RE: 10 plus must have Windows 7 Desktop Gadgets
@nanomartin How about a spell checker gadget smiley!
bmacshara@...5th Aug 2010 -
RE: 10 plus must have Windows 7 Desktop Gadgets
@bmacshara@... Go check your brains.
m3kw96th Aug 2010 -
RE: 10 plus must have Windows 7 Desktop Gadgets
@nanomartin
Agreed.
That article has more crap than the Columbia Boulevard Wastewater Treatment plant
aquinas22215th Aug 2010 -
RE: 10 plus must have Windows 7 Desktop Gadgets
@MSFTWorshipper as opposed to a wintard?LTV105th Aug 2010 -
Yes, it is crappy.
Agreed. None of them are particularly useful.
laman5th Aug 2010 -
RE: 10 plus must have Windows 7 Desktop Gadgets
look look HTTP://www.bizboysell.com
itkonlyyou2175th Aug 2010 -
RE: 10 plus must have Windows 7 Desktop Gadgets
@nanomartin I can only agree!
Aphataeros6th Aug 2010 -
RE: 10 plus must have Windows 7 Desktop Gadgets
@nanomartin
Each of us has our own preferences. I love the CPU meter and couldn't care less about how it looks. My laptop has no hard-drive light, and this gadget tells me when bootup is finished. Further, it tells me when there is an inordinate amount of CPU activity, such as when I found that an update routine was running constantly and hogging resources (unltimately identified in the Resource Monitor). Of course, I can always leave the Task Manager running, but the CPU meter is more compact and convenient.
jb_lantz@...6th Aug 2010 -
RE: 10 plus must have Windows 7 Desktop Gadgets
@jb_lantz@...
In other words, you need a gadget that shows your CPU utilization because your laptop is impractically slow until it's done with the boot-up routine. I find it sad we have to use a gadget to contend with two interface design issues (boot-up unacceptably slow and poor feedback from the laptop.
Ben12656th Aug 2010 -
RE: 10 plus must have Windows 7 Desktop Gadgets
These are not must haves, these are more like if you install them, you will waste more time. A useful must have for most people would be one showing top 5 process using the CPU and memory. This tells you which process is taking up your resources, or crashing. Like iStat for Mac. How is a slide show gadget a must have? A must have for the slide show enthusiast?m3kw95th Aug 2010
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