From gadgets to games, media tools and photo editors, you can pack your PC with the very best goodies without paying a penny.
Great gadgets
1 APP LAUNCHER gallery.live.com
If the Quick Launch bit of your Taskbar simply isn't big enough for the applications you want fast access to, App Launcher sticks program icons in the Sidebar for easy launching.
2 CLIPBOARD MANAGER
gallery.live.com
Keep – and reuse – everything you cut or copy via this handy gadget. It's not pretty, but it's really useful.
3 AMNESTY GENERATOR
www.amnestywidgets.com/GeneratorWin.html
Video, games, web pages… if it's online, Amnesty Generator can turn it into a Sidebar gadget. You can also use it to take incompatible widgets from the likes of Google and make them Windows Vista-friendly.
4 WIRELESS NETWORK METER
http://gallery.live.com
Everything you could possibly want to know about your wireless network, including how secure it is.
5 CPU METER
http://gallery.live.com
Car-style clocks show you how much of your CPU power and memory are currently being used. If they're maxed out when you're not doing anything, it's a sign that something nasty's snuck on your system.
6 SYSINFO
http://gallery.live.com
Need more than just memory and processor percentages? SysInfo adds hard disk space and network performance to the mix.
7 SYSTEM MONITOR
www.buildagadget.com
Need even more system information? System Monitor monitors your processor, memory, internet connection, battery, wireless network and your clock, includes a range of system tools and can be customised to suit your exact requirements.
8 VISTA CALCULATOR
http://www.gadgetsforvista.net/Gadgets/Tools-and-utilities/Calculator.html
A calculator in the Sidebar? It's not exciting, but it is handy.
9 ASK WINDOWS LIVE
http://gallery.live.com
Ask almost anything – from web searches to calculations and conversions – and get an instant answer from Windows Live, Live Q&A, Wikipedia and MSDN without the hassle of launching a web browser.
10 ACCUWEATHER.COM MINI-FORECAST
http://gallery.live.com
Is it safe to go outside? Find out with this small and simple weather forecasting gadget.
11 CHIRPR
http://gallery.live.com
The micro-blogging service Twitter is becoming enormously popular, and Chirpr makes it easy to see other people's tweets or to post your own
12 SPEED TEST
http://gallery.live.com
How fast is your PC? How fast is your internet connection? How fast is your website? How fast is cheese? This gadget can test them all, except cheese.
13 NATIONAL RAIL ENQUIRIES
http://gallery.live.com
Find out just how late home you'll be with this clever little addon that shows you the running times for the railway station of your choice. You can also filter by destination.
14 OUTLOOK UPCOMING APPOINTMENTS
http://gallery.live.com
One from the Office team, this gadget takes your upcoming meetings from Outlook and sticks them in the Sidebar so you're even less likely to forget them.
15 OFFICE 2007 RECENTLY USED DOCUMENTS
http://gallery.live.com
Another time-saver from the Office team, this gadget shows your recent documents and enables you to open them with a single click.
16 ULTIMATE EXPLORER
http://gallery.live.com
There are search gadgets, and then there's Ultimate Explorer. You can use it to search across 50 big-name sites and then display the results in the Sidebar or in Internet Explorer depending on your preferences. It even finds video clips.
17 MET OFFICE
www.metoffice.gov.uk/weather/uk/gadgets/vista.html
If you want more than a mere forecast, the Met Office's gadget offers radar and satellite maps, gale warnings and strong weather warnings.
18 EBAY DESKTOP
http://desktop.ebay.com
This rather hefty desktop application – it's not a Sidebar gadget; it uses Adobe's AIR technology, like iPlayer does – makes it easy to search, browse, bid and manage your own eBay auctions, and there are stacks of filters to keep things simple.
19 WINDOWS VISTA MAGAZINE GADGET
http://gallery.live.com
Because if we don't include it, the editor throws staplers at us.
20 WIKIPEDIA
http://gallery.live.com
As the name suggests, the Wikipedia gadget searches Wikipedia.
Your comments (3) Click to add a new comment
dude3009
March 20th 2009
3. Ccleaner is a good program to use because it gets rid of junk on your computer like broken links + speeds up your computer. Worth getting.
Alert a moderator
worldtvpc
March 20th 2009
2. yawn not exactly all that great.
Alert a moderator
richard077
March 19th 2009
1. What about vistaglazz great programme opens up a wide range of customisable vista standards
Alert a moderator
Tell us what you think
You need to Log in or register to post comments