IE11 Appears not to support gadgets. What are the alternatives ?

[Mooly]

Having just installed IE11, I find the standard W7 weather gadget and CPU/RAM meter are broken. A quick web search reveals this is/could be deliberate on the part of MS.

What are the free alternatives for these ? The CPU/RAM meter in particular was very useful to see at a glance whether anything was happening that shouldn't be.

Running W7 x64 in 64 bit mode for IE

 

[fireberd]

Microsoft issued a notice, at least two years ago, to not use the gadgets due to potential security issues. In fact Microsoft no longer supports them.

I used to have the CPU meter, which I found helpful in my recording studio applications. I haven't found anything that does what it did.

 

[marsmimar]

Microsoft Security Advisory (2719662): Vulnerabilities in Gadgets Could Allow Remote Code Execution

In lieu of a desktop gadget perhaps you could make use of the built-in Resource Monitor to keep track of CPU and RAM. Probably not as convenient as a gadget but maybe better than nothing. Same for a weather desktop app. Some reputable sites include The Weather Channel, NOAA, and local TV stations may offer their own apps.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/12523-resource-monitor.html

The Weather Channel App for Windows with Current Conditions, Local Alerts, and Radar

NOAA's Weather and Climate Toolkit (Viewer and Data Exporter)

 

[Bongo]

Rainmeter, desktop customization tool is a very good alternative to gadgets and there are thousands of skins available.

Jerry

 

[Mooly]

Thanks for the suggestions marsmimar. One from "weather underground" was suggested to me earlier and I've just been trying that briefly.

I was actually wondering whether IE11 download breaks those two gadgets in some way (breaks... as in you could copy a fresh version back) or whether it really is IE11 that just won't run them and the original gadgets are left intact.

Thanks for those suggestions though

 

[fireberd]

There is a current thread on the Cakewalk Sonar forum of a user that installed Rainmeter and now cannot add programs to the task bar.

 

[kado897]

You could always roll back to IE10 and hide the update to IE11 when it reappears.

 

[DMHolt57]

@Mooly check Windows features, .net framework...

 

[Bongo]

I just did some testing in VMware with a fresh install of Windows 7 64-bit and also an older install of 32-bit and I just updated both to IE 11 and the gadgets work just fine. Not saying I know what to fix is the it does work for me. If you're up to it try a clean install and let it update and try the gadgets again.

Jerry

 

[Mooly]

You could always roll back to IE10 and hide the update to IE11 when it reappears.

That is a distinct possibility. I had a major play this morning and tried copy and pasting working gadgets into the appropriate system folder but IE11 won't play ball. I tried some gadgets from Thoosje which were loaded with unwanted junk/malware. A pity because there is a really good CPU meter there. At this point I wasn't bothered (because I would revert back with Acronis) so I looked out the designer of the gadget I liked and found it on Softpedia but it was a later version and seemed a little resource hungry. I'm used to seeing the CPU hovering around 1 or 2% and not having fans running and that wasn't quite the case.

@Mooly check Windows features, .net framework...

Afraid I've no idea what I would be looking at there (or even where to look)

 

[Mooly]

I just did some testing in VMware with a fresh install of Windows 7 64-bit and also an older install of 32-bit and I just updated both to IE 11 and the gadgets work just fine. Not saying I know what to fix is the it does work for me. If you're up to it try a clean install and let it update and try the gadgets again.

Jerry

Thanks Jerry. I'm not sure what I'll do tbh. My install is clean and new to me Well it was in March this year anyway and it hasn't been mauled about or had anything other than Windows own housekeeping used on it.

I think I heard that IE11 would be the last IE update W7 sees and so I might (although I don't really want to) stick with IE10.

 

[Bongo]

What is your DPI set at? I read where if it higher then 100% is will cause this.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/443-dpi-display-size-settings-change.html

Jerry

 

[robinb9]

i just installed it through windows updates on 2 windows 7 machines and ie 11 is working fine, but you still can use the cpu gadget it just does not have a graphic to it, the same with the weather one but it is recording properly.

 

[Mooly]

Thanks for that info Jerry. Yes I'm using 125% (17" laptop) and 100% is to small for comfort tbh

At the moment I'm back on IE10 and have just done todays updates minus IE11. I'm thinking

 

[z3r010]

I would of thought the gadgets would be quite easy to fix, all that would need doing is unpacking them and adding <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=9" /> after the <head> tag then repacking/zipping it as a gadget.

 

[Mooly]

I would of thought the gadgets would be quite easy to fix, all that would need doing is unpacking them and adding <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=9" /> after the <head> tag then repacking/zipping it as a gadget.

I wouldn't really know how to do that... what and where to add it.

I've just looked at the gadget files for CPU meter (on Vista at the moment but it will be similar-ish) and there is a Javascript file thats readable in notepad and also one denoted by the little blue box and gear wheel symbol. That one only has a couple of lines in it.

On W7 x64 there are two separate sidebar and gadget folders, one for 32 in the "x86 prog files" and another for 64 bit in the "prog files" folders.

(Could there be anything as simple as a reg edit or even something in the advanced options for IE11)

 

[z3r010]

I've just installed Windows 7 in a VM and need to install SP1 etc before I can install IE11 and do any tests.

If this is the default CPU meter you are talking about, have a look for cpu.html here C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\Gadgets\CPU.Gadget\en-US

Then edit with notepad adding <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=9" /> after the <head> tag

I should have mine up in about 20 minutes to test myself.


Edit -Hmmm I've installed a fresh Win7 with IE11 and all gadgets work out of the box so I cant test

 

[Phone Man]

What is your DPI set at? I read where if it higher then 100% is will cause this.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/443-dpi-display-size-settings-change.html

Jerry

I updated my W7 laptop to IE11 and my gadgets were messed up. I had DPI at 125%. Changed to 100% and gadgets are now normal.

Jim

 

[DrDivan55]

The problem is indeed caused by the DPI settings of the PC. Gadgets appear incorrectly if the DPI value is set above 100%, although one may use a custom value of 110% and gadgets seem to appear almost correctly. The reason for the problem is that the default gadgets in Windows 7 have a DPI-locking tag. So there are two ways to resolve this issue:
1. Set the DPI value to 100-110%.
2. The second one requires some basic XML editing skills. One has to delete the locking tag from the XML file completely as setting the value to auto will not resolve it. I am not sure, but this however, might be against Microsoft's policy. In case someone wants to try this one, please, at least make a backup copy of the original file.

 

[Bongo]

I've just installed Windows 7 in a VM and need to install SP1 etc before I can install IE11 and do any tests.

If this is the default CPU meter you are talking about, have a look for cpu.html here C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\Gadgets\CPU.Gadget\en-US

Then edit with notepad adding <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=9" /> after the <head> tag

I should have mine up in about 20 minutes to test myself.


Edit -Hmmm I've installed a fresh Win7 with IE11 and all gadgets work out of the box so I cant test

Just tried this @ 125% DPI and it did not work, made it worse.

Jerry