Controlling the Sidebar | How to Wow: Photoshop for the Web

The Windows Sidebar is a nifty section of your Desktop. You can store all sorts of gadgets on the Sidebar and can organize your gadgets so that they don't take up a lot of space on your Desktop. You can switch between showing and hiding the Sidebar and all its gadgets, move it to the other side of the Desktop, or display it on a different monitor if you're using dual monitors. If you don't want to use the Sidebar at all, you can simply turn it off instead of hiding it.

Display, Hide, or Exit the Sidebar

If you want to use the Sidebar but you don't see either the Sidebar or the Sidebar icon in the notification area of the taskbar, click the Start button, type sideb in the Search box of the Start menu, and click Windows Sidebar to start the feature.

If you want to hide the Sidebar and all its gadgets, right-click a blank area of the Sidebar, and choose Close Sidebar from the shortcut menu.

If the Sidebar isn't displayed but the Sidebar icon appears in the notification area of the taskbar, click the Sidebar icon if you want to display the Sidebar.

If you don't want to use the Sidebar at all, right-click the Sidebar icon, and choose Exit from the shortcut menu. If you want to use the Sidebar again, you'll need to start again it from the Start menu.

Move the Sidebar

Right-click the Sidebar icon on the taskbar, and choose Properties from the shortcut menu to display the Windows Sidebar Properties dialog box.

Select this check box if you want the Sidebar to be on top of any open windows rather than having windows on top of the Sidebar.

Clear this check box if you don't want the Sidebar to start every time you start Windows.

Specify on which side of your Desktop you want the Sidebar to be displayed.

If you have more than one monitor connected to your computer, click this button, and specify on which monitor you want the Sidebar to appear.

Click OK.