The Sidebar
The Sidebar is a feature that sits on the desktop, and can be located to either side of your monitor. You can also set it to stay on the Desktop only, or appear above all windows.
The Sidebar contains what Microsoft calls “Gadgets”. This idea has been around for a while on Macs and through third-party developers under the name “Widgets”. These are mini-programs that sit on your desktop and perform a specific function. Of course there is a clock; you can have news and weather, a calendar, your list of contacts, information about how hard your computer is working, a slide show of your photos, and many other items.
Several of these gadgets are already part of Vista, Microsoft has others online, and there will be many more made available by outside developers.
To delete gadgets, mouse over the one you want to delete, and click on the X that appears. The gadget will close.
To rearrange the gadgets you want, mouse over the one you want to move, and look for the small grid of dots. Click and drag to the desired location. You can even drag a Gadget to the desktop.
To get more gadgets, click the + sign at the top of the Sidebar. This will take you to the Gadgets control Panel in Windows. You can choose Gadgets here, or look for the link in the lower right-hand corner that says Get More Gadgets Online. This will take you to Microsoft’s Gadget website, where many, many gadgets have been posted and are available for download.
In Windows 7, the functionality of the taskbar is still available, but it has been improved so that you can have the gadgets on the desktop anywhere you want them.
To access the gadgets that are available, got to Start>Desktop Gadget Gallery. If you want the clock, for example, just drag it from the Gallery window to your desktop. You can then customize it from there.