The Microsoft Vista sidebar is one of the additions to Vista that you may not have been previously introduced to if you haven’t used something like the freeware desktop sidebar . However, Lifehacker has a nice little list of sidebar applications for Microsoft Vista.
The sidebar is a useful tool if used properly, but it is pretty useless without something better than the native applications it comes with. Of the ones listed, two that I particularly like are the Gmail Reader/Mini Outlook Inbox that can show you new arrivals without having your browser or Outlook application running; and the Live Search Maps-powered Traffic gadget. Both are useful without cluttering up your desktop.
