Gadgets - Useful or just "Geeky Toys"

[jimbo45]

Hi all

I tend to like "Uncluttered Desktops" so just a query here -- can Gadgets actually be useful or are they merely "Geeky Toys" which get in the way on your desktop.

I've seen all sorts of stuff from ZILLIONS of different types of clocks ("ad nauseam" - how many ways are there to tell the time anyway and who cares what the phases of the moon are in Outer Mongolia) to those HORRIBLE little yellow post it type noteboxes -- looks sloppy enough when you see these stuck all over a REAL terminal never mind on your screen as well.

It might be nice Eye candy to see what the current price of "Brent Crude or Saudi Light Sweet" (Oil futures etc) or the FTSE 100 stock exchange index is but this public domain data which is always at least 15 mins behind the real time data -- if you were a genuine trader you'd have the correct software in REAL TIME for this anyway.

So are there actually any USEFUL functioning gadgets out there are are these just clever devices designed by Microsoft and others for eating up yet more CPU cycles -- so you can justify another hardware upgrade.

(I just LOVE conspiracy theories)

If you like these then so be it -- but I've yet to see one that actually ENHANCES my use of a computer.

As I said good luck if you DO use these but if you are running a load of "Normal" applications" you won't see much of your desktop anyway so I really can't see the point. If you do have time to watch these things on a desktop then perhaps you have too much time on your hands.

Urgent messages can always popup via Instant Messenger (or similar).

Cheers
jimbo

 

[swarfega]

There are some genuinely useful gadgets such as the sevenforums one (cough), but I dont have them on all the time.

 

[Anthony]

WiFi Gadget on a laptop and thats it.

 

[johngalt]

I keep a couple of them (about 6 TBH) running most times, but I also know how *and when* to kill off the gadgets.

I keep a clock, Alarm, System meter, Battery meter (to monitor my APC 1500VA UPS), Sysinfo, Moon Phase, another system info and a currency rate monitor running...

 

[harmann]

To me they're just geeky toys. I don't use any gadget, and my desktop has like 5 icons on it and most of the time I'm running other full-screen apps like browser, game, and media player, so pretty much the only time I see the desktop is at startup. I looked at the desktop thread and I don't see the point of some of the gadgets in there...

- Clock: there's already one at the bottom right corner... Why need another?
- Weather: I do check weather before going out, and I go to weather.com to have a glance. That's it.
- CPU/RAM/GPU/network usage monitors: Again what's the point... If you've OC'ed and tested the system to be stable under the heaviest load, why do you need to know what MHz or temp it's running at?

Gotta admit though, I did like to look at system status as it was working, oh some 10 years ago. Anyone remember the system monitor thing in Norton with a bunch of clocks and gauges?

 

[DocBrown]

There are some genuinely useful gadgets such as the sevenforums one (cough), but I dont have them on all the time.

I think the SevenForums Gadget is great.

Anybody find a wife / mistress juggler gadget ?

 

[Alan Wake]

I like some of gadgets, but my screen (19'', 1280x1024) is not that big to play around with them. They just take too much of my precious desktop space in this configuration. I will have to wait for bigger screen

 

[Romulinx2]

I use gadgets, I have the Weatherbug gadget (gives me severe weather warnings). I like in Oklahoma, so it's useful.
The outlook reminder gadget & Date/time with a calendar on it.

 

[jimbo45]

I think the SevenForums Gadget is great.

Anybody find a wife / mistress juggler gadget ?

Maybe a Real time "Wife shopping mood" gadget -- then I'd know when to escape -- apart from Cars and electronic toys I just HATE shopping.

I've run out of "Car doesn't work" type excuses now to avoid the trek to the supermarket.

Cheers
jimbo

 

[black dog]

I have no use for them, and consider they look more gimmicky than Geeky, but if people like to use them, for whatever reason, why not.

 

[Maka]

I used the weather gadget for awhile but got tired of it being on my desktop.

 

[johngalt]

For Weather I prefer to use Weather Watcher Live....

 

[Maka]

I have a firefox addon that displays it on my browser now.

 

[nate42nd]

I don't care much for the gadgets. I like my desktop simple. I have recycle bin and my computer and an .exe to SIW. That's it. Gadgets have potential and there are some good ones out there. I like simple.

 

[johngalt]

I, by contrast, have no navigation icons on my desktop at all, and *only* gadgets - thereby keeping my desktop simple as well.

 

[Bryce]

I've got just two off to the side on a small 19" monitor. My main monitor (22") has NOTHING at all on it and you just see the taskbar.

Those two gadgets I use are the CPU/RAM Meter and Weather, oh and sometimes SevenForums.

 

[weh]

With a pair of 24-inch monitors, I have plenty of screen real estate; however, I keep one screen completely clear and have only a dozen or so shortcuts for my most used applications on the other. I won't say it's true of all "gadgets" but I find most such things to be an intrusion and distracting. I prefer to do without.

 

[johngalt]

I have a pair of 22" wide screen monitors - main monitor has only wallpaper and gadgets, second only has wallpaper....

 

[Joan Archer]

I have the calender, a clock, the weather in my nearest town and the little notepad.
I have the clock on analogue and the system tray one digital, still can't convert that good between them so prefer to see the clock face

 

[RST101]

I like to keep track of what my system is up too so therefore I have a disk stat gadget, processor and ram gadget Oh yes and a network gadget, photo gadget for seeing my son, weather gadget and nvidia gfx temperature gadget. I do find them very useful and think if you have the resources then they help more than hinder. Obviously if you only have 1g of ram then your better of disabling. But like everything else in life it's each to there own thing, what makes them geeky to you can make them useful to somebody else.