Weather widget replacement for Windows 7

gldndragn said:

jharris1993 said:

Can someone cite the original source for this file? Maybe I'm paranoid, but I'd like to see the original download site rather than someone's upload. Not that I don't appreciate it, but. . . .

What say ye?

Jim (JR)

It is from MICROSOFT.....as in above <from MS>.
It was on the ORIGINAL gadget gallery....no longer available. Will never (to my knowledge) be able to view original source. It is CLEAN (no virus, malware, extra Bu**sh**). I am here to help as much as I know how, that means, to me anyway, I will not try to harm/infect/mess up/damage ANYONES computer. I only zipped the file in order to upload it here, to HELP others. But I also understand the need for caution,...please note, I don't mean to sound snarky, or anything like that, I just want to be clear.

Have a great one.

gldndragn,

I don't want you to think that I am questioning your motives, (or anything else!), here. . . I've just learned that "discretion is the better part of valor" over the years. Or as a Master Chief I once knew in the Navy said: "Be careful where you put that thing!"

I was hoping that there was a visible, current source for this that I could point others toward as well, but then again, I was hoping to win the twenty-bazillion dollar power-ball. . . (As well as peace in the Middle East and the Ukraine, and honest government, and. . . .)

I'll have to give it a try.

(snarky comment)
I wonder. . . . The "original" gadgets are (ahem!), "security risks", but this one isn't. (Because it's from Microsoft) So, why didn't Microsoft publish/re-publish this particular "gadget" as a fix for the "defective" ones? (i.e. They took down the entire original gadget gallery instead of just removing the "broken" gadgets.)

The only sense I can see is that Microsoft is pushing the whole Win8 experience, apps, cruft, junk, etc. etc. etc.

(/snarky comment)

Sigh. . . .

What say ye?

Jim (JR)

gldndragn said:

It is from MICROSOFT.....as in above <from MS>.
It was on the ORIGINAL gadget gallery....no longer available. Will never (to my knowledge) be able to view original source.

As the late Dr. Edward Teller once said: "Of course, not true." (Trinity and Beyond)

Source #1: The Internet Wayback Machine
Internet Archive Wayback Machine

Source #2: A site that appears to mirror what the "www.gallery.microsoft.com" site used to look like at some point in time:
MSN Weather 2.0 - Windows Sidebar Gadget Gallery

Notes:

• The Wayback Machine snapshots do not always link to active downloads.
• The "gallery-live.com" site is of unknown integrity, (i.e. I don't know if the gadgets there are legit, skumware, or what), however the MSN Weather 2.0 download from this site has exactly the same MD5 and SHA1 hash values as the one posted here.

It would be tremendously helpful if someone out there in Television Land could vet and/or recommend alternate gadget sources that are not known skumsites.

What say ye?

Jim (JR)

Gabee8 said:

Hello!
I replace weather gadget this gadget:
Weather - Windows 7 Desktop Gadget
But save config.xml (original gadget) working some days.
How to replace this url (original gadget)?:gadgets.live.com/configW7.xml

Gabee,

I am not sure what you are trying to tell me here. Let me see if I understand.

You tried to:

• Install a new weather gadget to replace the original weather gadget supplied with Windows.
• However, you tried to use the config.xml file from the original gadget, instead of letting the new gadget create a new one for itself.

Am I right?

Assuming that I am, I am not sure that it will work that way. The best way is to remove the original gadget from your desktop, install the new gadget, and then place it on your desktop from the gadget menu. You should also allow the gadget to create whatever supporting configuration files it needs instead of trying to re-use the configuration files from the original gadget.

What I would have done is this:

• Install the new gadget into the system by double clicking the gadget file.
• Open the "Gadget" menu by right-clicking on an unused section of your desktop and selecting "Gadgets" from the drop-down menu.
• Move the newly installed gadget to the desktop, placing it wherever you want it, allowing it to create its own configuration files.
• Configure the gadget however you want as far as location, units of measure, size, etc.

To remove the new gadget and replace it with the old one, you should:

• Use the "X" selection in the gadget's side-bar menu to remove the existing gadget from your desktop. (See upload "Gadget showing side-bar menu")
• Right-click on an unused area of your desktop, select "Gadgets", and then move the original Weather gadget, (that looks like a "sun"), onto your desktop. Then configure the gadget however you wish.

When I installed the MSN Weather 2.0 gadget on my desktop, I wanted to compare it to the gadgets I had already installed, so I installed it alongside my pre-existing gadgets as shown in the snapshot file "gadget snapshot" that I have attached. I placed it that way so that I could compare the new gadget with the original ones. (The new gadget is the one that's working, the others that say "forecasted", are the old Windows gadgets that are giving us so much grief.

Note that I do not know if uploaded files retain their original filenames after being uploaded. In case they do not, the files are as follows:

• "Gadget showing side-bar menu.jpg" has an uploaded size of 8.7 KB, and is a small image.
• "gadget snapshot.jpg" has an uploaded size of 43.3 KB, and is a much larger image.

I hope this helps answer your question. If I have misunderstood, please let me know and I will try to explain better.

What say ye?

Jim (JR)

OK, everybody!

For the last seven pages or so, we've all been talking about how to "solve" the problem with these [$%#&^@!!!] gadgets that M$ has so, so very thoughtfully decided to depreciate on us.

People are installing VB scripts, using new versions of gadgets, burning brown rice, sacrificing small rodents, dancing by the dark of the moon, and other similarly productive things.

Here's a quick guaranteed fix that requires no brown rice, no blood sacrifice, is totally transparent, and does not require you to replace any gadgets.

Theory:
As someone noted; if you can manage, somehow or other, to "touch" the config.xml file in your %userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live\Services\Cache directory, it resets the gadgets back to their working state. . . . Untill the poison-pill times out again, which usually takes a few days.

If you can, somehow or other, automate the task of "touching" this file, you can prevent the poison-pill from ever timing out and your gadgets should continue to work as they always did. That is until M$ decides to depreciate the server these gadgets depend on.


Solution:
I created a simple batch file that I have placed in the "startup" folder within the Start menu, that I call "gadgetKITA.bat" (Gadget Kick-in-the-@$$) that gives them a kick up the bum each time the system starts.

Viz.:

Code:

@echo off
copy /Y "%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live\Services\Cache\Config - Copy.xml" "%userprofile%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live\Services\Cache\Config.xml"

This is how I did it:

1. Navigate to your AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Live\Services\Cache directory.
2. Right-click on your pre-existing Config.xml file, and select "Copy"
3. Left-click on any blank space in the directory, (to remove the focus from the "Config.xml" file), right-click, and select "Paste". You should now have a new file named "Config - Copy.xml" in that directory too.
4. Right-click somewhere in the directory, select "New" --> "Text File". Name the text file "gadgetkita" (which becomes "gadgetkita.txt")
5. Copy and paste the contents of the code block above into that text file, save it and close.
6. Rename the text file from "gadgetkita.txt" to "gadgetkita.bat" - which automagically transforms it into a Mighty Batch File!
7. Right click the batch file you just created, select copy.
8. Left click anywhere else (to remove the focus from the batch file), and select "Paste Shortcut" which places a shortcut into the directory.
9. Copy (move) the shortcut to your Start --> startup directory and you're done!
10. Or. . . You can use the batch file I uploaded, which is exactly the same as the code block above. You can place this into your Cache directory, (after you made the copy of the Config.xml file described in steps 1-3!), and use that.
    
    1. Note that the batch file expects to find a file named "Config - Copy.xml" in the Cache directory. If that file does not exist, the batch file will fail.
    
    

To test it:

1. Delete the "Config.xml" file from the directory - or rename it if you're as paranoid as I am!
2. Double-click the batch file in that directory.
3. Verify that the "Config.xml" file reappears.

Now, every time you restart your system, the gadget poison-pill timer gets reset. If you're like me, you restart your system at least once a day, so you should be golden!

What say ye?

Jim (JR)

I'm curious. Just what is the footprint of malware that allows you to claim you've never seen one come through Gadgets? I mean how do you know? What in the malware is a sign that excludes Gadgets?