Gadgets have become unstable

[speedlever]

Win 7/64 Home premium.

Lately, I've noticed that my gadgets will disappear from time to time. I can regain them by going to Windows Features and disabling the gadget platform, rebooting, then re-enabling gadget platform and rebooting yet again. Simply rebooting the system without touching the gadget platform will not repair the gadget display problem.

But that seems like a work-around for some unknown-to-me issue at this point.

Anyone else seeing this?

 

[A Guy]

I think it's likely caused by some security program. At least that is most common. If you don't have a lot of customizations you don't want to lose, you can try running the System File Checker as well.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1538-sfc-scannow-command-system-file-checker.html

A Guy

 

[speedlever]

Good idea.

I recently bought and installed Hitman Pro but don't recall if that might have been the trigger point or not when this all began.

I'll run the sfc check. I've used SFC before but don't recall losing any customizations. ??

 

[A Guy]

   Warning

Be aware that if you have modified your system files as in theming explorer/system files, running sfc /scannow will revert the system files such as explorer.exe back to it's default state. Make the appropriate backups of your system files that you have modified for theming if you wish to save them before running sfc /scannow.

A Guy

 

[speedlever]

Ah. those kind of customizations. No worries there.

 

[speedlever]

Gadgets have again disappeared and turning the Gadget Platform off and back on with reboots in between is no longer bringing them back. UAC is on the lowest setting (not off).

Any suggestions how to get them back?

 

[A Guy]

Here's something to try. Navigate to

C:\users\(User Name)\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Sidebar

There will be a settings.ini in the folder. Through task manager, end the sidebar.exe process.

Ctrl + Shift + Esc> Right click on sidebar.exe> End process

Copy the ini file to the desktop in case you need it again. Restart the sidebar.exe

Ctrl + Shift + Esc> File in upper left> New task> Type sidebar.exe in the Run box> Enter or OK

There will be no gadgets, but see if you can right click desktop> Gadgets and add them. If no help, repeat the process and restore the original settings.ini.

A Guy

 

[speedlever]

Thanks for your response. I haven't had time yet to try out your suggestion.

Interestingly, when I checked the computer this morning, it had restarted after overnight updates were installed... and all my gadgets were back. Yes, the computer had been restarted multiple times before, to no avail.

Computers!

I hesitate to mark this as solved since it appears to be a recurring issue. But for now, the issue seems to be solved. I just wish I knew what fixed it.

 

[speedlever]

Update. A reboot a couple of days later and the gadgets disappeared again. After a few days, another reboot occurred and the gadgets reappeared. Cyberspace must be a puzzling place to live.

 

[andrew129260]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/10215-gadgets-restore-default-gadgets.html

Have you tried doing this? Might possibly help.

 

[speedlever]

Thanks. I'll try to remember this next time they disappear.

One puzzling thing (probably related to the issue) is that when the gadgets disappear, I can right click the screen and choose gadgets, but nothing happens. That being said, right now the gadgets are behaving themselves.

 

[andrew129260]

Nevermind

EDIT: DELETE