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Sidebar Gadgets

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iUnify
Posts: 66
Joined: August 10th, 2009, 11:52 pm

Sidebar Gadgets

Post by iUnify »

I don't know how many of you have Vista or will be purchasing 7. In that group I don't know how many of you either absolutely love or absolutely hate Sidebar Gadgets.

I used to be in love with them and now I just like 'em a little. Regardless of anyone's opinion there are a few that just stand out as great, great ideas. I am not posing this to name all of the ones I perceive a good, great, or must have's but I am posting to throw a couple out there that are in my mind something you just should not pass up without trying.

Now, remember, you can leave gadgets on your sidebar if you have enough that will take up more space than one edge of your screen so they sit neatly on multiple 'pages' or you can just use two or three (and they don't need to be active at all times) that you really get good use out of.

Take a minuet to visit a few links and I would love to hear some feedback. Even if you just hate that I made this post. :evil: ... :lol:

MiniBrowser: minibrowser.info
Navigate web pages right from your desktop on a speedy, completely re-sizable, bare bones only Web Browser. This is great to surf the net, watch a streaming video or just keep track of a site that you are either making or waiting for information to be posted on. You can even set how often this nifty tool refreshes, too!

Wall-patch: thehobbylounge.com/forum/index.php?topic=3074.0
I love this thing. This gadget allows you to watch or listen to anything you want. I know, there are a million things to do this- but the way it is made, the memory it uses and how it looks is great. You can re-size it to any pixel width + height you would like. The controls only appear when your mouse is hovering over the gadget. I like watching movies on it when I am busy doing other stuff but want a little something to keep my mind elsewhere. =)

WP Mail Corp: gallery.live.com/author.aspx?a=02876f4d-a3bb-4927-9dea-be4a05120601
With this email gadget you can not only see how many emails you have but you can actually read them from your desktop... no opening the web browser! Set how often the gadget will check for new messages and you have instant access to them once the arrive. The one negative thing is that you can not respond without opening your Browser. I believe it opens your default (some gadgets just open IE and that pisses me off!) I cannot stand that nobody has created a gadget that acts as an inbox/outbox yet though, as the technology is all there- but this is the closest thing available thus far.


- - - -

This is my honorable mention list. :lol: I am not adding links because it's a PITA to find them but if you like them just ask me and I can mail them to you or post the links. You can even Google the names followed by "Sidebar Gadget" and you are sure to find them.

Drive Explorer: This nifty gadget is just a mini Window Explorer so if you want to open a folder quickly you can use this. It comes in handy sometimes for me. If I am not using this I usually use whatever folder is open (or open anything) and just type in the path... but this is nice too.

Clipboard Manager: Quick access to anything you copied and pasted... words or files. Keeps track of however much you specify it to, 5-100 items. It can erase it's memory after a restart or keep it. You can also set it to keep track of any file or folder you opened but I leave that off.

File Shredder: Just a file shredder. 1- 10 algorithms, your choice. :)

Folder Magic: Set which folders you want specific file types to go to than drag and drop them into the gadget image... poof! They disappear like magic and are sent to the path you've specified. So if you want .mp3's to go to Documents\Music they do. If you want .ini's to go to Rainmeter\Skins they do. If you want .pdf's to go to My Documents\ebooks.... you get the idea. You can set it more specifically for the obvious reason that it wouldn't know where you want it to go...unless...

Print A Document: Drag and drop anything printable into the gadget image and it will print.

Quick Zipper: Drag and drop anything you want to zip and it automatically does so. Specify what compression program to use, the extension you would like to compress it to (anything you want) and where the files should be saved to.

MyWinLock Encrypt Data: Drag and drop anything you would like to encrypt into the gadget image and it encrypts. Set it up how you wish in the Settings.

Event Data: I like this- it's a great To-Do List of sorts. Really keeps track of everything you need with alarms, calendar, time, reminders... the works, basically.

Gas Prices:: Enter your zip and see all the gas stations in a x- mile radius of your home. I always get the cheapest gas. Yay!

Now Playing: Just like CD Art Display... a bit different, I like it though... I guess I used it more awhile back though.

Volume Control Reloaded: Change the volume and mute. Opens a flyout window that has all of the mixers and you can load and save presets here.


- - - - -

Well I could be here all day but I think I am all done! I hope some people like these- I have a feeling no one is into this stuff. If you read this all though you really gotta admit that there are some really useful things here, no?

I am going to make one more post in brief relation to this. I am to how many of these Gadgets can be made into Rainmeter skins because anything I can do in RM I would rather use. Besides that it is easier to make everything match in how it looks I also like the idea of the least amount of running processes.

Hope to hear what you guys think!
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Alex2539
Rainmeter Sage
Posts: 642
Joined: July 19th, 2009, 5:59 am
Location: Montreal, QC, Canada

Re: Sidebar Gadgets

Post by Alex2539 »

iUnify wrote:MiniBrowser: minibrowser.info
Navigate web pages right from your desktop on a speedy, completely re-sizable, bare bones only Web Browser. This is great to surf the net, watch a streaming video or just keep track of a site that you are either making or waiting for information to be posted on. You can even set how often this nifty tool refreshes, too!

Wall-patch: thehobbylounge.com/forum/index.php?topic=3074.0
I love this thing. This gadget allows you to watch or listen to anything you want. I know, there are a million things to do this- but the way it is made, the memory it uses and how it looks is great. You can re-size it to any pixel width + height you would like. The controls only appear when your mouse is hovering over the gadget. I like watching movies on it when I am busy doing other stuff but want a little something to keep my mind elsewhere. =)

WP Mail Corp: gallery.live.com/author.aspx?a=02876f4d-a3bb-4927-9dea-be4a05120601
With this email gadget you can not only see how many emails you have but you can actually read them from your desktop... no opening the web browser! Set how often the gadget will check for new messages and you have instant access to them once the arrive. The one negative thing is that you can not respond without opening your Browser. I believe it opens your default (some gadgets just open IE and that pisses me off!) I cannot stand that nobody has created a gadget that acts as an inbox/outbox yet though, as the technology is all there- but this is the closest thing available thus far.
What do you have against your browser? Really? I like my web browser. We're buddies and I know there would be hell to pay if it found I was using a newer, smaller browser instead of it. Not to mention the guilt I would feel, never being able to look it straight in the icon again. No, browser, i would never do that to you!

Other than that...
iUnify wrote:Clipboard Manager: Quick access to anything you copied and pasted... words or files. Keeps track of however much you specify it to, 5-100 items. It can erase it's memory after a restart or keep it. You can also set it to keep track of any file or folder you opened but I leave that off.
Useful
iUnify wrote:Folder Magic: Set which folders you want specific file types to go to than drag and drop them into the gadget image... poof! They disappear like magic and are sent to the path you've specified. So if you want .mp3's to go to Documents\Music they do. If you want .ini's to go to Rainmeter\Skins they do. If you want .pdf's to go to My Documents\ebooks.... you get the idea. You can set it more specifically for the obvious reason that it wouldn't know where you want it to go...unless...
Kinda useful
iUnify wrote:Print A Document: Drag and drop anything printable into the gadget image and it will print.

Quick Zipper: Drag and drop anything you want to zip and it automatically does so. Specify what compression program to use, the extension you would like to compress it to (anything you want) and where the files should be saved to.
Useless. Both of these functions can be obtained by simply right-clicking any file. To me, that seems quicker than having to drag the icon all the way to some other gadget. It's right there! Both of them! Insofar as zipping is concerned, I've never actually opened a program to do it. I always just select the files or folder, right-click, and RAR it up. Seriously, try it.

The rest, well... I wouldn't use them, but they're the sort of thing whose use are determined on a case-by case basis. Although Windows 7 does come with a much cooler volume bar than previous versions of Windows. It may not have a mixer, but you can adjust the volume of individual programs. Want MSN to be half as loud as everything else? Done. Want to temporarily turn off just the sounds Explorer makes? Done. Want to adjust the bass and the treble for your phat beatz? Well... that's where these doohickeys come in.
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iUnify
Posts: 66
Joined: August 10th, 2009, 11:52 pm

Re: Sidebar Gadgets

Post by iUnify »

Alex: Hahaha... thanks for the post again Alex.

Now, I don't consider myself a cheater but I guess I have a bit more of an 'open relationship' with my browser than you have with yours. I mean, it's not like me and FireFoxy have agreed to see other people but I do test the waters so to speak. Like I said, if you want to check a page ever-so often, to refresh it- MiniBrowser is great. I also dig it to surf sometimes too, like if I am doing something else and want to quickly check things, it's great to have a small window right there. You know, I also had a phase where I downloaded like....15 browsers just to see what was out there... you'd be surprised how many there are available out there. Chrome, Firefox, Maxthon and lunascape are my favs, in order. Oh, and the MiniBrowser! :D ...Guess I am sorta a player. :lol:

See now, WP Mail Corp is great. This is the only way I have ever found to be notified of new mail and read it and view any mail you already have saved on your account from your Desktop without any web browser. THAT is cool. It has been exceptionally helpful to me a number of time.

I just like the wallpatch- I think it's useful but can totally see why someone could care less.

I'm glad you saw the light with the Clip Manager and "sorta" with the Magic Folder. ;) The magic folder is useful in certain situations. When you have a few different things you are trying to organize at the same time- even just one, it comes in handy.

Now, laugh if you will- maybe you'll claim righteousness, I don't know, but as I said I was going through my gadgets trying to get rid of as many as I could and after hearing you mention about RARing and printing I thought to myself... I DO open WinRAR but I have my reasons... anytime I unzip or Zip to RAR or Zip I just use the context menu as well... now, the drop and zip gadget is useful for those other formats (.7z) that you don't wanna open the program for BUT I'd say it's worth deleting the gadgets. Also, to print, I honestly have used the context menu maybe 5 times... I know it's there but don't use it. I admit it- you've enlightened me! :D :D :D

And as far as everything else goes....

"Hi, my name is iUnify, I'm a Gadgaholic"

:welcome: