15 Must Have Sidebar Gadgets for Windows 7 and Vista to Increase Productivity

Sidebar Gadgets in Windows Vista and 7 are mini applications that can give you information at a glance and provide access to frequently used tools with a variety of possible uses. They can connect to web services to deliver business data, weather information, news updates, traffic maps, Internet radio streams, and even slide shows of online photo albums. Gadgets can also integrate with other programs to provide streamlined interaction.

On Windows Live Gallery, there are almost 4000 Dekstop gadgets available divided into several categories. I usually download new and useful gadgets from those that I think can help in my daily activities both online and offline.

I’ve dozens of these gadgets already installed in my system but here I’m compiling a list of some useful gadgets that can give a helping hand in doing some common tasks that you do, to increase your productivity.

1. Web Search

Search from any search engine from this small and compact gadget. Search google, live, yahoo, ask, altavista, news, maps, images, music, software, weather, youtube, ebay, amazon, dictionary and even wikipedia.

Download

2. Volume Controller

A simple volume and mute control for the Sidebar.

Download

3. Application Launcher

Launch your most frequently used applications from the sidebar by clicking the icons. Drag and Drop to add to the list.

Download

4. Dictionary

Quickly search for definitions and synonyms of input words.

Download

5. Clipboard Manager

This is a real time saver. Experience a new dimension of Windows Clipboard and manage it from Windows Sidebar. Use Clipboard History, build your Favorite Clips, timestamp your remarks, enjoy additional tools

Download

6. To-do List

ToDo Gadget, easily manage and track your daily to-do list. ToDo gadget lets you add up to 7 tasks. You can highlight tasks in different colors and change their priorities, everything you need to get things done!

Download

7. Calculator

Simple yet advanced Calculator now in your sidebar for easy calculations.Almost the best sidebar calculator – by far the best visually.

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8. RUN

a quick access to RUN of windows.

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9. Windows Media Player

Plays your music and videos, without WMP being open

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10. Control System (with Clock)

With this Control System With Clock you can simply control standby, shutdown, restart, log off or hibernate your Computer from you Windows Sidebar. And also contains 16 skin.

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11. Screen Snapper

Screen Snapper is a powerful, flexible and intuitive screen-capture utility. It allows you to capture anything on the screen. Can capture full screen. Can capture windows or objects in the screen. Can capture regions in the screen. Copy image to clipboard automatically. Can automatically save captured images. Can Save images in 7 popular formats: BMP/EMF/GIF/JPG/PNG/TIFF/WMF

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12. Mini Browser

A mini Web browser for the sidebar.
– Create “Web clips” and monitor any area of a web page.
– Reload the home page at a given interval.
– Now allows to specify the size of the browser.
– Ideal for: network monitoring, news headlines, web radio, video playlists, web TV, and much more…

Download

13. Windows Live Writer Gadget

With this gadget you can open a new blog entry, open a previous blog entry or even open the options right from your sidebar (or have it floating and open Writer from anywhere). Not only this, but you can drag and drop onto the gadget too. The gadget supports images, urls, and image urls for drag and drop, and each one will open a new blog entry in Writer with the relevant details already in.

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14. Unit Converter

Very useful tool with nice interface. Can convert any unit:
Length, Area, Volume, Mass (Weight), Angle, Time, Speed, Velocity, Pressure,Energy, Work, amount of heat,Power or heat flow rate,Data Storage,Temperature and more.

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15. All in one System Monitor

The System Monitor shows important information of your PC. Like, Time, Wifi Connections, Battery Level, System usage, Drives free spaces, Recycle bin status, Quick shutdown buttons.

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