Get Your Windows Gadgets Back In Windows 8

Microsoft did not do a very good job promoting the gadget platform that was available in Windows Vista and Windows 7; and, as a result, most people were clueless about it (and did not understand it). Actually, for the everyday home computer user, it was not the easiest platform to navigate.

Typically, if you had the gadget platform activated, you would see a sidebar on the side of the desktop that displayed your gadgets (mini-programs that offered information at a glance and provided easy access to frequently accessed tools). I know that some of the gadgets I played around with (such as clocks, system monitors, picture slide shows, mini rss readers) were actually very good and were often nice in appearance. You could even detach the gadgets from the sidebar and move them around the desktop.

If you upgraded to Windows 8, and you was a Windows gadget user, you are going to find that the gadget platform is gone; HOWEVER, there is a really good third party FREE software option, called Thoosje Windows Sidebar 8, that will bring the gadgets back in Windows 8.

Thoosje windows Sidebar comes with 11 of the most used gadgets like a clock gadget, Calendar gadget, CPU/memory gadget, Search gadgets, Hard Drive gadgets, Media player, quick launch, RSS feed gadget and more. An addtionional free gadget pack is under development now and will be released this year.

Thoosje windows sidebar is completely redeveloped and now the new gadgets system is designed to make it possible to let independent developers  create new gadgets for Thoosje Windows sidebar 8. The system is created to make it possible running Gadgets Directly From DLL ( For Developers)

Thoosje Windows Sidebar 8 Features

• Entirely new Sidebar Engine
• Eleven Build In Windows Gadgets
• New Redesigned Windows Gadget Manager
• Importing/Exporting Windows Gadgets (.cwgf files)
• Importing & exporting Gadget Packs (.cwgp files)
• Gadgets Info
• Gadgets have Customizable Settings With build in encryption system
• Gadget Blacklisting system to prevent malware
• Enlarging Gadgets
• Running multiple instances of gadgets which each have their own settings
• Sidebar Background Settings Including 8 sidebar backgrounds
• Customizable Sidebar Transparency settings
• Sidebar Language Settings
• Automatically Download new language files from server
• Sidebar Error logs
• Storing Gadgets on separated Sidebar pages
• More gadgets available soon

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GEEK BONUS AREA

Increase the maximum USB transfer size in Windows 7
and Windows Server 2008 R2

VideoLAN proposes VLC native Windows 8 version

Tech Tip #36: The Internet Toolbar Disappeared

FEATURED TECH PRODUCT

5 in 1 Card Reader for iPad

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Feed it to VideoLan (VLC)

Did you ever experience the situation where you have attempted to play an audio or video file on your computer and the format is not recognized and it will simply not play? As a result you become frustrated and start expending time, downloading plugins, codecs, etc. that often causes more harm than good.

The fix for this is VideoLan (aka: VLC). VideoLan is a free and open source cross-platform multimedia player and framework, that plays most multimedia files as well as DVD, Audio CD, VCD, and various streaming protocols. To get a rundown of what formats VLC will play [click here] .

The “cool factor” to VLC is that you can also download a portable version to carry with you on your flash drive or as a quick fix in the event your regular media player will not play the file. I have been using VLC now for several years; and, as a result Windows Media Player has become a thing of the past.  It is not as glamorous as Media Player, but, who needs glamour.  You can, however, download skins [ HERE ] if you want to change the default appearance of VLC to something more glamorous…

post to jaanix

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VideoLan (VLC) – A free cross-platform media player…

The Windows Media Player, in my opinion, “is a bloated, hard to understand, does not play well with others, likes to tell on you, hooks into your operating system, mediocre” media player. Sorry Microsoft, but myself and legions of others like “simplicity, easy to follow, will play anything, respects our privacy, can be deleted if we don’t like it, above average” media player. I didn’t mean to start this post out so blatant, but I want you to know there are other media player options available.

If you are looking for an alternative “FREE” media player with simplicity in mind, that works across many platforms (i.e. Windows, Mac, Linux, BeOS, Syllable, & others) and will play just about anything that you throw at it; then give VideoLan –VLC media player a try. I have been using this player for approximately 2 years and it has not let me down. I initially started using it when I tried to play a movie with Windows Media player and it basically told me it did not support the format and that additional codecs was needed. Once I found, downloaded and installed what I thought was the correct codec, I soon discovered that I had thrown trash at my system that caused Windows Media Player to not function properly. Of course I was questioning; What is a “codec”? To be honest with you, I love tech stuff, but I really don’t care about “codecs”. If you get into the various digital media formats, the term “codec” will cross your path often. Per WikiPedia, “A codec is a device or program capable of encoding and/or decoding a digital data stream or signal”. What is so nice about VideoLan (VLC) media player is that it supports a large number of multimedia formats, without the need of additional codecs. It is not the prettiest media player out there, but it gets the job done and does it very well. If you are into appearance, VideoLan (VLC) is skinnable. Oh, and if you don’t know what a skin is; a skin is an add-on that you can use with VLC to change the look and feel of the player to make it more aesthetically pleasing to the user’s eye.

Description of VLC (from the web site):

VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, …) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network. It doesn’t need any external codec or program to work.

NOTE: There is also a portable version of VideoLan (VLC) available at Portableapps.com

 

 

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