Customize your desktop and get easy access to hundreds of fun and useful desktop enhancements with Yahoo Widgets - Tutorial 3 - Managing Yahoo Widgets

In Yahoo Widgets, new widgets are stored in the My Widgets folder. In Windows Vista and Windows 7, you can find this folder under C:\Users\(your username)\Documents\My Widgets. In Windows XP, it can be found under C:\Documents and Settings\(your username)\My Documents\My Widgets.

When you download a new widget, by default it should be placed into this folder. If it is not, it can be copied or moved in manually. If you ever want to remove a widget, simply browse to this folder and delete the widget you are no longer using, it's that simple. Each user has their own "My Widgets" folder. This means that each user on the computer can pick and choose which widgets appear on their dock and on their desktop.

I don't have any widgets or my widgets disappeared!

If you are a Windows Vista or Windows 7 user running a limited user account, you may find that after installing Yahoo Widgets, when you reboot your PC, your Yahoo Widgets dock is empty and all your widgets have disappeared.

Similarly, if you installed the program, then changed to another user account, you will probably find that although Yahoo Widgets is available to the other users on the computer, they don't have any widgets available for use. This is because the Yahoo Widgets installer program only copies the default widgets into the "My Widgets" folder of the user who installs it in the first place.

Fixing this problem is easy. Firstly, log on as the user who currently has access to all the widgets (if you installed Yahoo Widgets while running a limited user account, this account will be your administrator account). Now, simply copy the contents of the "My Widgets" folder either directly into the other users "My Widgets" folder, or to the shared documents folder if it is not possible to access the personal folders of the other users. The users can then copy the widgets from the shared documents folder into their "My Widgets" folder and start using them.

If you want other users on the computer to have access to the default widgets, you'll need to copy them into the users My Widgets folder.

Widget Recommendations

Bored with the default Widgets? Here are a few of our favourites that you may like to try.

Informer

Keep an eye on system resources, memory usage and disc space with this handy widget. Informer acts like a second Taskbar, sitting just above the regular Windows Taskbar. On this new informer bar, you can add sensors which report back on system information (e.g memory or CPU usage) or shortcuts to programs or common actions such as locking the PC or ejecting USB drives. A super widget that looks great and is useful too.

WebImages

WebImages can pull in information from virtually anywhere on the web and place it right on your desktop. Want to monitor your favourite webcams or even video feeds? WebImages does all that and more, probably the most powerful webcam/media widget available.

JC Sticky Deluxe

There are lots of sticky note widgets available, including one which comes with Windows 7. If you are looking for a Yahoo Widget sticky note however, JC Sticky Deluxe comes highly recommended.

Don't forget that you can browse the most popular widgets by visiting this page.

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