Disable Gadgets in Windows 7
Article by George Norman
On 08 Sep 2009
Unlike windows XP, Windows Vista comes with a feature called Vista Sidebar and Windows 7 comes with a feature called Gadgets. Those of you that did not want to be bothered by the gadgets in the Vista Sidebar will definitely not care about the Gadgets feature in Windows 7. So after you remove the Gadgets option in the Windows 7 right click context menu (see link at the bottom), you may want to disable the gadgets altogether. It is a fairly simple process that should take little time; just check out the step by step guide presented below.

Step 1. Access the Control Panel -> in the search box type in features.

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Step 2. Under Programs and Features click the link entitled Turn Windows Features on or off.

Step 3. The Windows Features window should have popped up. Scroll down until you find Windows Gadget Platform -> uncheck the box next to it.

Step 4. Click OK and then restart your computer. Gadgets will no longer be displayed on your desktop. The Gadgets option should have been removed from the right click context menu as well (the menu that appears when you right click an empty space on the desktop).

For those of you that jumped straight from Windows XP to Windows 7 and have no clue what a gadget is, here’s a brief explanation: they are small applications displayed on the Windows desktop; you can drag and drop them anywhere you want; you can access them via the right click context menu. They are very much similar to Yahoo! Widgets – so if you ever used a Widget, a gadget is pretty much the same thing.

Tips and warnings
You might want to check out these tutorials as well:
How To Remove Gadgets and Screen Resolution from the Windows 7 Right Click Context Menu
How To Use Windows 7 Keyboard Shortcuts
How To Use Media Player Keyboard Shortcuts in Windows 7



Tags: Microsoft, Windows 7, Gadgets
About the author: George Norman
George is a news editor.
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