Vista Tutorial - show desktop doesn't show gadgets

Hey, the show desktop icon is pretty neat... I have brand new laptop and want
to use the show desktop icon to quickly access my sidebar/gadgets. But only
the left hand icons appear. So I moved the gadgets off the sidebar, closed
it and still the gadgets don't show. Why would microsoft tease me like
that?.. what is the point of gadgets if I can't get to them easily and
quickly? But if I minimise everything, then the gadgets on desktop show.. but
then what's the point of the quick access icon...

Well, the gadgets aren't technically on the desktop - they aren't part of
explorer.exe. The sidebar program is separate. I know that doesn't help you,
but I thought it might help you to know that it is normal and why. I agree
with you though, when I first tried it I expected the same.

Robert Firth
http://www.winvistainfo.org

"kerry" <kerry@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:25704DE2-F570-4E27-BF95-82603E9A97C0@microsoft.com...
> Hey, the show desktop icon is pretty neat... I have brand new laptop and
> want
> to use the show desktop icon to quickly access my sidebar/gadgets. But
> only
> the left hand icons appear. So I moved the gadgets off the sidebar,
> closed
> it and still the gadgets don't show. Why would microsoft tease me like
> that?.. what is the point of gadgets if I can't get to them easily and
> quickly? But if I minimise everything, then the gadgets on desktop show..
> but
> then what's the point of the quick access icon...

I've noticed the same thing: if I click on Show Desktop on taskbar, the
screen will show the desktop but not the sidebar and gadgets. I have to go
back to another window, minimize it to get gadgets back on desktop. I see no
reason why Vista should be doing this. This seems to be poor software
development which is another example of why a recent survey revealed that
almost 47 % of current Windows users will not upgrade to Vista. 47 %! Is
Miscrosoft paying attention?

Besides a couple other quirks, my Vista machine works like a charm.

Oscar

"Robert Firth" wrote:

Hi,

"Show Desktop" does just that, it clears the desktop, whether you use the
icon or WindowsKey+d. If you want to just minimize the open Windows without
removing the Sidebar, use the WindowsKey+m to minimize. It's done this way
by design.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"oscar" <oscar@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:C20BE935-5267-4F77-A892-DAB4736AF286@xxxxxx

I too kinda find this annoying, it seems the Sidebar is just a regular old
window which contains these separate applications, so as long as you run the
show desktop command, you will get this effect.
--
Andre
Blog: http://adacosta.spaces.live.com
My Vista Quickstart Guide:
http://adacosta.spaces.live.com/blog...3DB!9709.entry
"oscar" <oscar@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:C20BE935-5267-4F77-A892-DAB4736AF286@xxxxxx

Hi Oscar,

You can make the Sidebar not disappear by right clicking the Sidebar tray icon and click Properties. Then, check "Sidebar is always on top of other windows" and click OK. This will allow the Sidebar to stay when you click "Show Desktop", but it will also always be on top to.

Shawn

In another post it said that the Windows key + Spacebar brings up the
Sidebar. This is how I now get it back after Minimizing.

Personally I think the sidebar needs to be like Desktop Icons and not an
application. I use the "Minimize" or "switch" ALL the time. However ALL my
icons are on a Gadget Bar launcher so I have to use the shortcut to get it
back.

"kerry" wrote:

You can create a VBScript to open the sidebar back up automatically
after it closes due to the show desktop procedure. Just follow these
steps:

You need to create three files:
ShowDesktop.scf
ShowDesktopSidebar.vbs
Shortcut to ShowDesktopSidebar.vbs

1) Open up notepad and create ShowDesktop.scf:
[Shell]
Command=2
IconFile=shell32.dll,34
[Taskbar]
Command=ToggleDesktop

2) Open up notepad and create ShowDesktopSidebar.vbs:
Dim WshShell
Set WshShell = WScript.CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
WshShell.Run "ShowDesktop.scf", 1
WshShell.Run """C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\sidebar.exe""", 1

3) Create a shortcut to ShowDesktopSidebar.vbs
Right click on file and choose 'Create Shortcut'.

4) Change icon of shortcut to the "show desktop" icon:
Right click on shortcut, Properties, Change Icon..., scroll to the
right just a bit and you'll see the "show desktop" icon, choose it and
click OK.

5) Move shortcut to Quick Launch area on Taskbar:
Right click on shortcut and drag it to the Quick Launch area, release
click and choose 'Move Here'.

That's it! Done.

It has the same functionality of clicking on the "show desktop" icon,
and then clicking on the sidebar icon in the tray, as was a suggested
solution. The limitations of this solution, just like the manual
version, is that if you click on the desktop afterwards, the sidebar
disappears. But if say you open a minimized window (and don't click on
the desktop), then the sidebar will stay up.

Notes:
Make sure you keep the .scf and .vbs files in the same directory, just
hide them somewhere not on the desktop.

The real solution is for Microsoft to fix this problem by adding an
option for the sidebar to always be on top of the desktop, but not on
top of other windows. This is not hard to do at all (for the OS), it
just needs to be done (by them). So Microsoft, just do it already.


--
booglypoo
Posted via http://www.vistaheads.com

Thanks. I am familiar with vbscript so I will definitely try this out.

Cheers,
Lara

"booglypoo" wrote:

How about clicking on the sidebar icon on the taskbar and having the gadgets appear on the page your working as both attached and unattached will appear or should come up for your use as was designed? You shouldn't need to show desktop for the
use of sidebar.