Desktop widgets in Windows were introduced by Vista, and it’s included in Windows 7 as well. By default, widgets appear in the sidebar, but they can be dragged anywhere on the screen.
Both Vista and Windows 7 have some useful built-in utilities like clock, weather, RSS feed widget, etc. But if you’re still using XP (don’t worry, more than 50% of PC users prefer XP) and are wondering how to get these on your desktop, then read on.
This article talks about two tools that help you add more desktop gadgets to Windows XP.
UPDATE: Both of the tools we talked about in this article – Yahoo Widgets and Google Desktop – are no longer available. One of our readers recommended a third-party tool called Desktop Sidebar. We haven’t tried it out yet, but from the interface on its homepage, it offers plenty of utility and utility options for XP users. You might want to check that out.
1. Yahoo! utilities
Yahoo! utilities (update: Yahoo Widgets has stopped working) is a free application for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS. It can display widgets on the desktop, like the Gadgets feature in Windows 7. Although the stable version was released more than two years ago, the widgets still work.
When you launch the program for the first time, it will pop up several widgets to get you started, including weather, digital clock, calendar, etc. You can right-click each widget to control its display or configure options or manage them in the toolbar (shown on the right side of the screenshot above).
Like Windows 7 widgets, you can move widgets anywhere on the desktop and keep them on top of other windows.
Check out Yahoo! Widget to get more cool stuff.
2. Google Desktop
Google Desktop (Update: Google Desktop has stopped working) is another great tool to get some utilities working on Windows XP. You can enable this feature in the settings by checking the “Sidebars with Widgets” section.
While Yahoo! Widgets use “Dock” to manage widgets, Google Desktop uses “Sidebar” to display them. You can lock or unlock specific widgets from the sidebar and use the Toggle view extension to get more details about the widget.
Right-click the Google Desktop icon on the taskbar and select “Add Widget”. You will be able to choose and install more powerful and useful add-ons.
Sidebar widgets are just one of the features of Google Desktop. It also offers better file search across computers and more.
Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
