How to Customize Existing Windows 7 Gadgets

The question having been asked in the "post your seven desktop" thread, i thought it was maybe interesting to deepen that with a new and clear post...

So, the subject here is how to change icons and type/color of font in a windows gadget to make it match better with your own style...

IMPORTANT NOTE : If you wanna follow these steps, remember that it's for personal use ONLY, please never share a customized gadget without the owner/creator permission!!! Thanks...
I could not be responsible for any exceed due to the use of this tutorial...

For the icons change, i choose the "BandwidthMeter" gadget, credits for this are for "RolRain".
For the font change, i used "PrestoHDMonitor_1.54" gadget, credits to "Preston Hunt" for the gadget and "SFKilla" for styles and graphics.

So here we go! First : how to change icon(s)...

Note : my system is in French but i'll explain with English terms, really easy to follow...

You need to have "7-zip" installed for these operations, Winrar doesn't show needed actions in the contextual menu...

So we're gonna make "up" become "down"





1- Create a new folder and name it as your original gadget.
To make it more distinctive, add something to the name...
My original is "BandwidthMeter" and i just added "2" :

2- Copy your original gadget in this folder (always back up the original, of course...), then right clic the gadget file > 7-zip > extract here

You obtain all the folders contained in your gadget.
You can delete the original now, we won't need it anymore.

3- Find the "images" folder and then the icon(s) you wanna change and check the size.
I made here a red selection of two icons, they are the icon of the gadget and the icon for the gadget management window (the one with all your installed gadgets)

4- Choose now new icon(s), with the same size (! - if needed, cut & resize with any image editor you want) and rename them as the original ones

As you can see, i had to copy my choosen icon twice...

5 - Replace the original icons by the new ones

6- To have the new name of the gadget after installation, you have to change it in the "xml" file, so right clic on it > modify

then change the name, close the windows and accept the modification

7- We have now to re-pack all the files;
So, select all of them, right clic > 7-zip > add to "BandwidthMeter2.zip"

Finally, rename the extension "zip" to "gadget" (to make appear the extension, go to "folder options" and uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types")

And that's it; you have now a new personal custom ready-to-use gadget!

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