When I purchased a new computer last fall, it of course came with Windows Vista pre-installed. Even though it came with a wide-screen monitor, I turned off the sidebar feature almost right away when I didn't find anything worth my while to keep open all the time on it. After months of being annoyed by notifications for the Weather Channel's Desktop Weather app that I had running in the taskbar, I finally switched on the sidebar this week to load a weather app that wouldn't annoy me.
Turns out, the best sidebar gadget (for me anyhow) has been out there waiting to revolutionize my desktop. Some very nice person created the XM Online Radio gadget. Granted, you have to be an XM subscriber, but for me this is the most convenient thing since e-mail was created. It just sits there ready to login to XM at a moment's notice and start playing music. No having to login to the web site and worry about keeping browser windows open. I can get my 60's on 6 fix anytime.
I've always been a full-screen person when running most applications - and for me to give up screen space all the time... well, it's saying something for how much I like this thing. Now, someone's gotta come up with something for chat programs like Google Talk and Gizmo to live in the sidebar too...
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