There is a Google gadget that i wish it could be on my sidebar ever since i started picking up korean, that is 'Korean Audio Word of the Day'. Searching around the Internet leads me to a piece of free software that allows me to do just that.

The Amnesty Generator allows users to convert any big boys' gadgets to one that could be installed onto windows 7/vista sidebar.

So here's how it goes :D

Select the web widget that you are intending to convert, hit Open Site in Browser

Search for the intended gadget, click Add to your webpage



Customise to your liking, you could adjust the width and height in the amnesty generator, but there is no preview mode. When you are done, click Get the Code. Copy and paste the HTML from the textbox to amnesty.



The name will appear as the Name field will be the one used to identify the gadget from the library. You could also add an image to identify your own gadget. Click Generate, and the your Gadget will be created in your windows' gadget library!

P.S. The window will close when Generate is being clicked.





Those interested to backup the gadget, its located in the following directory
C:\Users\Wen Qiang\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Sidebar\Gadgets\

To publish some of the applications, you could right click on the Start button, choose Open All Users' from the menu. Create the shortcut for the applications in the popup folder.

Some applications are excluded by default, to enable them,
1. launch registry editor by pressing Win+R, and type "regedit" without quotes.
2. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Virtual Machine\VPCVAppExcludeList
3. Search for the application and remove the entire entry
4. Restart XP and this application will be published to W7!

Seems like Microsoft decided to continue the Vista way for unicode programs, so only one unicode language will be supported at any time by going to the settings for system locale.

For me, i'm running CJK programs concurrently, so i need another solution.

The ancient old AppLocale still works for Windows 7. To install,
1. Press the windows key
2. Type 'cmd' without the quotes, press Ctrl + Shift + Enter
3. The above steps will launch the command prompt in administrator mode, the UAC will prompt you, permit it to continue
4. Navigate to the directory where the apploc.msi is locate and start the setup :D

The following link is a patch to the AppLocale to remove the nag screen
http://opcode0x90.wordpress.com/2008/01/09/patch-for-applocale/

It seems like the preview thumbnails take forever to popup, here's something you could do to speed it up.

1. Press Win + R
2. Type "regedit" without the quotes
3. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\Mouse
4. Modify the value of MouseHoverTime from 400 to around 100 or less

Restart the computer and you are done :D