Remove Gadgets

• There's no need to clutter the Sidebar with gadgets. If you don't want to see the large, analog clock when your system clock at the bottom right of the screen suffices, move your cursor over that clock, and then click on the small "X" that appears near its upper right-hand corner. To remove a bunch of gadgets at once, right-click on the Sidebar, click "Properties," click "View list of running Gadgets," and remove gadgets from the resulting window.
  
  

Add Gadgets

• Once you've cleared the clutter, you have space to add items you actually want to see regularly. Vista includes some gadgets that don't appear by default; you can get to them by clicking the "+" at the top of the Sidebar. Drag a gadget from the resulting window to the spot you'd like it to appear on the Sidebar. You can also click "Get more gadgets online" to browse the thousands of available gadgets and download and install them. If you run out of space, you can still add gadgets; as you add gadgets, they simply push existing gadgets onto the next screen, which appears if you click the right-pointing arrow at the top of the Sidebar.
  
  

Configure Gadgets

• The default city for the weather gadget is Redmond, Washington (home of Microsoft). The default time for the analog clock is whatever time your system displays. There are a lot of default behaviors that make a gadget less useful or desirable. If you move your mouse over the gadget and click the wrench icon, you may find settings that change your mind. Change the weather gadget to your home town, for example, or the place where you're going on vacation next week. Change the clock to the time zone where your sister lives and you won't have to think about whether your phone call will wake her up.
  
  

Copy and Reorder

• The ability to personalize gadgets may open a new world of possibilities -- but each gadget performs a fairly simple task. To extend their functions, you can add extra copies. For example, add multiple copies of the weather gadget to the Sidebar and give each one a different city to report on. You can also reorder gadgets however you like. Hover over a gadget until the "X" and wrench icons appear, and then click on the grid of dots directly under them. Hold the mouse button down and drag the gadget by this handle.
  
  

Configure Whole Sidebar

• The Sidebar has a couple of useful options. You can set whether it loads when the system starts, whether it appears on top of any open windows and whether it displays at the left of the right of the screen. Just right-click on an empty space in the Sidebar and click "Properties" to access those options. And if you're one of the many users who closed the Sidebar and can't see how to get it back, look first in the Windows task bar in the group of small icons next to the system clock. Hover over icons to see which utilities they represent. Or search for "sidebar" in the "Start" menu to open it.