I love all the sidebar gadgets available nowadays that you can add to your desktop—cool, convenient little tools that keep you up to date on what’s going on or simply provide easy access to some much-needed fun.

My Windows Vista sidebar has a Gadget Gallery that includes a calendar, list of contacts, the weather, a notepad, sports scores, photos from Facebook and a ton more. And this link provides even more ways to personalize your Vista sidebar. There are to choose from at Google Gadgets too. I’ve just started with the basics and will let you know as I try out new and unusual tools.

Here’s one I just couldn’t resist. It’s bubblewrap that you can feel good about popping–who doesn’t love doing that? Plus it’s much more environmentally friendly than the offline version!

Hmm…well, it turns out that the shiny little red laptop I just got, which I still LOVE, has an annoying glitch specific to this model.

Sometimes the wireless Internet connection works, and sometimes it doesn’t. Not very convenient if you’re working remotely!

We spent hours trying to rectify the situation, and finally found a message on Gateway’s home page that you need to uninstall and reinstall the wireless driver if this happens. Just thought I’d save you a little time if you ran out and bought this laptop and are having the same problem.

Supposedly you only need to uninstall and reinstall once, but we’ve had to do it several times. So…I might be paying the friendly folks at Best Buy a little visit soon for a replacement or repair.