I got working Vista sidebar under Windows 7

[Calum Veteran]

you know what....?

After following this thread i decided to give the whole 'Sidebar on top' thing a go in my Vista install (i've only just come in possession of a wide screen), i can honestly say it's very handy and i can now sympathise with the users who are unhappy with the removal of this feature from 7

Even though you have Aero Peek?

What I also do is get rid of the sidebar in Vista and just put my gadgets on the left side. I position my windows next to the gadgets and when they are not maximised (as I love the glass, I rarely maximise), I can see and play with my gadgets.

If I wanted to constantly see and play with my gadgets while windows are maximised, I have Aero Peek (or will when I buy Windows 7) and I also have many keyboard shortcuts ('Windows Key' + 'D', 'Windows Key' + 'M', 'Windows Key' + 'Space').

I don't see a need for the sidebar whatsoever.

[MikeChipshop Member]

I'm gonna have to admit that i could swing either way on this.

[pbcopter]

You can get the Windows 7 gadgets to be on top all the time by right clicking each gadget and select "always on top"

[MikeChipshop Member]

I gave this a go as well and all i have to say is it's an ugly horrible solution, you lose certain site of your windows and they sorta sit there in the way

[Calum Veteran]

You can get the Windows 7 gadgets to be on top all the time by right clicking each gadget and select "always on top"

That's silly for when you have maximised windows.

It makes so much more sense to press 'Windows key' + space' together as and when you need. That way, the gadgets automatically disappear when you don't need to see them.

There is no need for an ugly, horrible, sidebar.

I gave this a go as well and all i have to say is it's an ugly horrible solution, you lose certain site of your windows and they sorta sit there in the way

Which is why I think my suggestion is a perfect solution? Or is it still not acceptable?

[MikeChipshop Member]

Which is why I think my suggestion is a perfect solution? Or is it still not acceptable?

I personally don't have the Sidebar set to on top, it sits there underneath where i've always had it, i was merely trying it out to see what the fuss was about and i can see why people who normally have it there are annoyed that it has been removed.

I do use Aero peek on my desktop but not on the laptop as it isn't so great to use with the trackpad

[Buzz99]

I rarely use maximized windows so is the sidebar. Gadgets runs fine without de sidebar since I think that the sidebar was totally a waste of screen space. Just my opinion.

[GnatGoSplat]

That's silly for when you have maximised windows.

It makes so much more sense to press 'Windows key' + space' together as and when you need. That way, the gadgets automatically disappear when you don't need to see them.

There is no need for an ugly, horrible, sidebar.

Which is why I think my suggestion is a perfect solution? Or is it still not acceptable?

Not acceptable to me, I think it's a horrible solution. To have to press keys to see the Sidebar? What is the point, why even use gadgets if you don't want to see them all the time? To me, that's as silly as having to press 2 buttons on your car dashboard to make the speedometer or fuel gauge visible or having to press 2 buttons on your watch to read the time. How is this new setup going to be any better than the crappy OS X dashboard? Before, Sidebar was so much better and so much more useful than the Mac Dashboard. With Windows 7, it's practically the same thing and just as useless.

I don't see what's ugly about Sidebar, I think it looks cool to have my newsfeeds, gauges, clock, weather/temp and calendar there at all times. Maybe I am just mega geeky.

I run all my windows maximized. I have no interest in resizing, adjusting, or tweaking windows to fit them without covering up my gadgets.

[Calum Veteran]

Not acceptable to me, I think it's a horrible solution. To have to press keys to see the Sidebar? What is the point, why even use gadgets if you don't want to see them all the time? To me, that's as silly as having to press 2 buttons on your car dashboard to make the speedometer or fuel gauge visible or having to press 2 buttons on your watch to read the time. How is this new setup going to be any better than the crappy OS X dashboard? Before, Sidebar was so much better and so much more useful than the Mac Dashboard. With Windows 7, it's practically the same thing and just as useless.

I don't see what's ugly about Sidebar, I think it looks cool to have my newsfeeds, gauges, clock, weather/temp and calendar there at all times. Maybe I am just mega geeky.

I run all my windows maximized. I have no interest in resizing, adjusting, or tweaking windows to fit them without covering up my gadgets.

Why would you want to see any of those gadgets constantly? :s If you wanted to access any of them quickly at any time to see something, you can press 'Windows Key' & 'Space' together. I don't understand why you need them all the time? If you are doing other things on your computer, other than looking at your gadgets, then surely you don't need them on top all of the time?

The Windows Gadgets system is much better and much more advanced than Mac OS X's Dashboard. For starters, the gadgets are always on the desktop (which is the perfect solution). On Mac OS X, you can't access your Dashboard widgets until you access the dashboard. It makes them a little useless, although like Windows there are quick keyboard shortcuts.

[MeDieViL02]

Why would you want to see any of those gadgets constantly? :s If you wanted to access any of them quickly at any time to see something, you can press 'Windows Key' & 'Space' together. I don't understand why you need them all the time? If you are doing other things on your computer, other than looking at your gadgets, then surely you don't need them on top all of the time?

The Windows Gadgets system is much better and much more advanced than Mac OS X's Dashboard. For starters, the gadgets are always on the desktop (which is the perfect solution). On Mac OS X, you can't access your Dashboard widgets until you access the dashboard. It makes them a little useless, although like Windows there are quick keyboard shortcuts.

its just us i gues, i also dont think aero peek is a solution for this problem, why in the world did microsoft remove the sidebar, why not just disable it as defealt and use it as an option?

[GnatGoSplat]

Why would you want to see any of those gadgets constantly? :s If you wanted to access any of them quickly at any time to see something, you can press 'Windows Key' & 'Space' together. I don't understand why you need them all the time? If you are doing other things on your computer, other than looking at your gadgets, then surely you don't need them on top all of the time?

The Windows Gadgets system is much better and much more advanced than Mac OS X's Dashboard. For starters, the gadgets are always on the desktop (which is the perfect solution). On Mac OS X, you can't access your Dashboard widgets until you access the dashboard. It makes them a little useless, although like Windows there are quick keyboard shortcuts.

Well, same reason I want to be able to see the speedo, fuel gauge, tach, temp gauge, and clock in my car without having to press button A and button B together to see them! I use my PC like I drive, I'm focused on the main window like in my car I'm focused on the windshield, but I want to be able to just quickly move my eyes to glance at the gadgets like I want to be able to just quickly move my eyes to glance at the gauges or clock in my car. Same thing. Having to pressing keys is a huge step backwards for me in the way I use my PC. You and others use your PC differently so I can understand you have no use for Sidebar, but it should still be an option for those who like it. In fact, MS original advertising for Vista's Sidebar was that you could have it Always On Top using the extra horizontal space of a widescreen monitor that you otherwise wouldn't use. That's exactly how I used the Sidebar. I REALLY hope someone at MS is reading this and will consider to pass this request up along to someone who can do something about it. Even with the old Sidebar, you could pull out your gadgets and have them plastered all over the desktop as well so the new gadget system really doesn't buy you much in new features and instead loses a feature that many found useful.

On Mac OS X, there is a hack to make gadgets stay on the desktop at all times and also an always-on-top hack. I've done both on my Hackintosh. That makes it very similar to the new Windows 7 gadget system. I still like Sidebar MUCH better than Dashboard w/hacks.

[MeDieViL02]

Well, same reason I want to be able to see the speedo, fuel gauge, tach, temp gauge, and clock in my car without having to press button A and button B together to see them! I use my PC like I drive, I'm focused on the main window like in my car I'm focused on the windshield, but I want to be able to just quickly move my eyes to glance at the gadgets like I want to be able to just quickly move my eyes to glance at the gauges or clock in my car. Same thing. Having to pressing keys is a huge step backwards for me in the way I use my PC. You and others use your PC differently so I can understand you have no use for Sidebar, but it should still be an option for those who like it. In fact, MS original advertising for Vista's Sidebar was that you could have it Always On Top using the extra horizontal space of a widescreen monitor that you otherwise wouldn't use. That's exactly how I used the Sidebar. I REALLY hope someone at MS is reading this and will consider to pass this request up along to someone who can do something about it. Even with the old Sidebar, you could pull out your gadgets and have them plastered all over the desktop as well so the new gadget system really doesn't buy you much in new features and instead loses a feature that many found useful.

On Mac OS X, there is a hack to make gadgets stay on the desktop at all times and also an always-on-top hack. I've done both on my Hackintosh. That makes it very similar to the new Windows 7 gadget system. I still like Sidebar MUCH better than Dashboard w/hacks.

exactly my toughts

[obvious]

...and mine. The car analogy is perfect.

[Gally]

What? I thought vista sidebar was just Google desktop? Why not install that rather than copying files from Vista. Google desktop works with XP and probably 7 as well as mac and linux.

[GnatGoSplat]

What? I thought vista sidebar was just Google desktop? Why not install that rather than copying files from Vista. Google desktop works with XP and probably 7 as well as mac and linux.

Nope, it's not. Google Desktop widgets and Sidebar Gadgets are not cross compatible. There is a tool to convert Google widgets to Microsoft gadgets, but not the other way around.

I did install Windows 7 Beta to play around with, and verified I'm going to hate having to lose the Sidebar. I may have to switch to Google Desktop if it's the only thing that will give me Sidebar functionality back, but I'd rather stick with Microsoft if at all possible. Maybe the people who wrote Alky to get Vista Sidebar running almost flawlessly in XP will be able to do the same with Windows 7. Or perhaps the Alky patched Sidebar for XP works better in Windows 7 than the stock Vista binaries? I haven't tried that yet.

[HawkMan]

Even though you have Aero Peek?

What I also do is get rid of the sidebar in Vista and just put my gadgets on the left side. I position my windows next to the gadgets and when they are not maximised (as I love the glass, I rarely maximise), I can see and play with my gadgets.

If I wanted to constantly see and play with my gadgets while windows are maximised, I have Aero Peek (or will when I buy Windows 7) and I also have many keyboard shortcuts ('Windows Key' + 'D', 'Windows Key' + 'M', 'Windows Key' + 'Space').

I don't see a need for the sidebar whatsoever.

Why can't you accept that some peopel want their gadgets to be visibleall the time, and we don't want to have to "peek" to see them.

why is it so hard for you to say that "Ok. They shoudl make the sidebar an option, so that those who wish to have usfull allways visible gadgets canhave the optional sidebar,like they did in Vista. and those that do not, can have the option to only have gadgets on the desktop without the sidebar(again, like in vista)"

Is it so hard for you to see that some people would like this option that wouldn't affect your usage of the gadgets at all ?

yeah, peak is usefull and all, just not for gadgets, the only thing I use gadgets for is small utiilities of info gadgets I want allways available right there, allways visible showing me the info they have. and I want to have properly maximized windows witht hem on.

And 7 has glass allways on anyway, even when maximized.

[MeDieViL02]

the only thing we can do is send feedback and request the sidebar back, i doubt it will work but i would try...

[GnatGoSplat]

Yeah, I already sent Feedback.

So far I like Windows 7... everything about it is A-OK with me EXCEPT lack of a Sidebar.

However, I replaced the Windows 7 "Sidebar" with Vista Sidebar and it worked fine, but they got rid of my Notes gadget! I liked Notes in my Sidebar, so I pulled that over from Vista as well. Now Windows 7 is exactly how I want it. I haven't noticed any problems at all with stability or anything. So long as Vista Sidebar works with the release of Windows 7, I'll survive. However, it would be much more preferable if there was just some built-in configuration option where I could get the classic Vista Sidebar back (and classic Notes gadget as well).

[pam713]

Yeah, I already sent Feedback.

So far I like Windows 7... everything about it is A-OK with me EXCEPT lack of a Sidebar.

However, I replaced the Windows 7 "Sidebar" with Vista Sidebar and it worked fine, but they got rid of my Notes gadget! I liked Notes in my Sidebar, so I pulled that over from Vista as well. Now Windows 7 is exactly how I want it. I haven't noticed any problems at all with stability or anything. So long as Vista Sidebar works with the release of Windows 7, I'll survive. However, it would be much more preferable if there was just some built-in configuration option where I could get the classic Vista Sidebar back (and classic Notes gadget as well).

I also replaced Windows 7 "sidebar" with Vista Sidebar (yeah, I want to make use of my widescreen monitor's extra real estate and be able to see the gadgets all the time, too) - did anyone else who did this run into a problem with 'flyouts'? Mine no longer work and I was hoping to find a workaround for it.

Thanks! (Oh yeah, I'm running build 7057).

[Lord Ba'al]

If you really want old sidebar inder Windows 7 the following you can do.

So don't maximize :)

In fact, in Win7 you can just double click on the top or bottom border of the window (or drag the top or bottom to the edge of the screen) to get into the "vertical maximize" state.

That *would* be a nice feature, if it wasn't broken :no:

If you use it, the vertical size is not saved, and the window is back to its old vertical size next time you open it - that makes the entire thing pointless :pinch:

[Hermittguy]

I also replaced Windows 7 "sidebar" with Vista Sidebar (yeah, I want to make use of my widescreen monitor's extra real estate and be able to see the gadgets all the time, too) - did anyone else who did this run into a problem with 'flyouts'? Mine no longer work and I was hoping to find a workaround for it.

Thanks! (Oh yeah, I'm running build 7057).

Glad to hear the sidebar still works in build 7057 I just finished installing it and sidebar will be one of the first things on my list to load.

I haven't had a problem with flyout's on earlier builds but we'll have to see on 7057.