Win7 Gadget panel

I currently use Win7 on a wide laptop with 1920x1080 display. And I find it not used efficiently. ie, so huge desktop and nothing much displayed.

If I am not mistaken, on Vista the Gadgets has its own dedicated panel on the right side of the desktop. And this panel is not overlapped by any other windows/applications. But on Win7 its not the case; If I open a window, maximize it, it will occupy the whole desktop overlapping and hiding the Gadget panels.

Is there a way for Win7 gadget panel to function like it is on Vista? ie, the Gadget panel is always on top and other applications will maximize LESS the space occupied by the Gadget panel?

 

you would need a working vista machine to copy some things, but the process is here

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/587-vista-windows-sidebar-reinstate-windows-7-a.html

The issue is that in Windows 7 they removed the sidebar as a container and gadgets are free floating. You could set the gadgets to always on top.

You could also download google desktop which has a a sidebar

 

However if you dont have a vista installation, you can try out this gadget which is a gadget that represents the vista sidebar.. works fine if you set it to always on top:

http://helmut4242.deviantart.com/art/7-Sidebar-140775153

 

It's not exactly what you are searching for and an approximate solution has already been posted, but it's related so I'll post anyway:

You can make Windows show the Gadgets on your desktop at any time by pressing Windowskey+g

 

and is there an equiv win+keypress to force-hide all gadgets?

 

I'm sorry, I don't know of any, but a google search may turn up results.