G73JH Toolbar Hardware Monitoring Solution

First of all, I'd like to thank this community as its my #1 place to visit for support information regarding the G73JH. I have not had many issues, but some items I've found helpful regarding video card drivers and other links to things such as HD Caddy's and other have been helpful.

With that said, I'd like to give this guide out there to like minded-people who want to be able to easily monitor the hardware status of their G73JH's. I did not write or assist in creating these applications.

Background

A while back, I found this community who liked to customize the information provided through Windows for monitoring the status of the hardware through the customization of the Windows Sidebar (XP, Vista, 7).

The user community was great and always very helpful, but now the sidebar tools are hosted by the original author on his blog site:

SFKilla - Home

Applications and Drivers

- Windows 7 64bit
- Windows Vista 64bit
- I have not tried 32bit, but I'm sure it will work if it works on 64bit

- Mobility Radeon 10.4 driver (caveat: I have not tried this setup with a version lower than 10.4)
ATI Catalyst? Mobility Display Driver

- Multimeter v2.1
SFKilla - Multi Meter

- HWMonitor Meter
SFKilla - HWMonitor Meter

- HWMonTray Application
http://www.sfkilla.com/gads/HwMonTray.zip

CPUid HWMonitor version 1.15
CPUID

Steps

1. Download all applications
2. Install the video card driver (or try it with your preferred driver, please report here in this thread for people wanting to this setup prior to 10.4).
3. Extract the sidebar tools and double click on the *.gadget file to install them.
4. Install the HWMonitor application.
4. Extract the HWMonTray application to the location of the HWMonitor install location (not necessary, just easier to keep track of).
5. Double click on the HWMonTray.exe to startup the application. It will place a tray icon. This application basically allows the sidebar tool to access information provided by the HWMonitor.
6. If you want the HWMonitor Meter to work correctly on startup, add a shortcut to your startup folder.
7. Edit the configurations of the sidebar applications to your desired look and feel.

 

oh sweeeet. would definetly try this out when I get home! THanks!