What Happened To Windows Desktop Gadgets And Why Did Microsoft Abandon Them?

UPDATE (07/05/12): This link all but confirms that Desktop Gadgets will go away as I anticipated in Windows 8: Microsoft reportedly killing off desktop gadget support in Windows 8

A quick opinion entry here post bowling night (Yes I do have other hobbies besides programming!). Anyways back on topic I was quite disappointed to see a Tweet come across a few days ago stating that Windows Gadgets were being retired and the Gallery hosting them was no more. What?!?! I actually have always been a big fan of those things. I mean as a developer that sits in front of a machine with multiple screens for 8+ hours a day, I like all the information those things provide me at quick glance. After all we are in the information overload age (i.e. Smartphones, tablets, computers, etc.) and the gadgets fit right in to that role. Desktop gadgets were 1st made popular on Macs, then Yahoo came out with their "Yahoo Widgets", and finally Windows got in the game to offer support natively in the OS beginning with Windows Vista. However the gallery has been retired and support has quickly shifted away. Here is the official Microsoft Link on the status of the retired gallery and discontinued support:

Looking for gadgets?

Here is an excerpt from the above link stating it all:

"The Windows Live Gallery has been retired. In order to focus support on the much richer set of opportunities available for the newest version of Windows, Microsoft is no longer supporting development or uploading of new Gadgets."

OK I get it. Microsoft is positioning itself for Windows 8 and its new design including a focus on 'Metro Style Apps'. Windows Gadgets don't fit at all into that new design and really hinder in some ways the competing and improved look of Windows 8. You need folks to forget about these little anchored desktop apps and focus on Metro Apps in Windows 8. This could not be as strong of a directive with these 'dead weight' mid 2000 type apps lingering around (not really my thoughts, but probably the view at a meeting at Microsoft when the decision came to retire these widgets). I had already noticed a lack of developer interest and I understand this as well. It's not the sexy thing to spend time on in present day. If you were about to sit down and create a little weather app, would you make a Desktop Gadget or a Windows Phone 7 app for the marketplace? Easy enough answer. But even the minimal support was welcomed and still created a huge portfolio of selectable and free fun, productive, entertaining, and cool apps to have on the desktop. However I think the decision to retire the gallery and discontinue support is a bit premature and let me explain why. It is not often I disagree with Microsoft because I live for the technology they pump out of Redmond, but I am not on the same page with them on this decision.

There was a time from say 1993ish to 2005ish where it was almost a necessity to buy a new computer every few years to keep the hardware up with what the applications could do. Even simple tasks like having a browser open and Microsoft Word could be dauntingly slow on an older machine. So what does one do? Buy a new computer so multitasking became a possibility and didn't drive the user nuts. Also during this time period, the cutting edge industry development and the hardware were not that far apart. Using a Windows 98 box with VB5, Access, C++, etc. and building the best apps (excluding gaming) using the latest technology didn't require any special hardware. Using a standard home PC would allow one to create, build, and deploy these types of apps.

Now we have gotten to a point where I think us in the development community and those in the R&D sector moving the ball forward may not realize the disconnect that is upon us. The cutting edge technology and its expectations in my opinion will not excite a large portion of the market share. Sometime around the mid 2000's, PC hardware began to outpace the software running on it for the 1st time which helped drive costs down on PCs and allowed the consumer to breath a bit and not have to rush out to get the new OS and machine. "Hey if I can run my browser, email my family, and write Word documents, I am set!" Not everyone is 16 years old and rushing out to get the newest piece of hardware that supports the cutting edge technology, which we were all forced to do in years passed. Microsoft could rely on the fact that users would continue to buy newer, faster, smaller PCs and along with that the newest OS too. It was a nice harmony because the software and hardware naturally moved together and everyone (users and developers) had to keep up with the same pace. You didn't find too many Windows 95 users in 2003, 8 years after it came out, but you can certainly find a large portion of home PCs (and businesses too) that are still running Windows XP 10 years after release. This is because that stable, easy to use, machine doesn't warrant being replaced. In current day Microsoft can no longer expect the average user is going to buy a new piece of hardware to support the newest OS; that hand is not naturally being forced as it once was 10-15 years ago. Therefore support of what may be deemed 'legacy' technology or software (even if it is only 5 years old) has to be taken into consideration to keep the masses happy.

So what in the heck does that background have to do with Desktop Gadgets going away you ask? Well, I think for starters a lot of late migrators to Windows Vista or Windows 7 will be disappointed when they buy the computer and see one of the 'neat' features, Gadgets, is retired even before some had a chance to use them. But more prevalent than worrying about people who are behind in technology (hey you snooze you don't get to experience it like those of us that bought it on time, Ha!), is I wonder if Microsoft is going a little hard to place all their eggs in 1 basket with Windows 8. I don't think the masses will move quickly but this is not apparent by those of us in the technical community. We will all have it as soon as it is released to Beta and installed on Day 1. But that is a bad impression for the general use market share. I don't think everyone is going to abandon their PC for a tablet running Windows 8. And don't get me wrong; I don't think Microsoft is thinking this will happen either, but I do think some feel this is what "Everyone will be doing in 5 years..." I am not so convinced. I will be all over Windows 8 because of what I do and how much I like the technology, but I am not sure about Sister, Mom, Dad, Grandma, Friend 1, and Friend 2.

So I liken retiring the Windows Gadgets the start of Microsoft's reposition for its new OS, and is just the tip of the iceberg. I hope Microsoft doesn't continue to make decisions like this to slowly force people into buying Windows 8 because their nice, stable, Windows 7, Vista, or XP machine has 20% of its features retired or not supported. It's an aggressive stance and I get the feeling from the Build conference that Microsoft will be pursuing Windows 8 harder than any OS since maybe Windows 95. I just hope it does not come back to haunt Microsoft by leaving a bad taste in people's mouth by being unwillingly shuffled along faster than they care to. It's a fine line to walk.

This isn't the only instance were they suttly or explicitly phased out technology. For example, VS.NET 2010 will not support Windows CE development. Hold the horses!! I don't recommend making new CE apps at this point in time, but I have 1st hand experience working on a current 3rd party product that uses a propriatary device runnign on Windows CE. Makes total sense why Microsoft would not support CE development in VS.NET 2010: DO WP7 DEVELOPEMENT! But once again it's these decisions that I think don't agree with the masses as evident by the feedback from this Microsoft Connect entry:

No support for Windows CE and Compact Framework development in VS2010

So maybe a bit profound for the analyzation of why the Desktop Gadets went away, but I think there is a bigger picture here. And yes personally I am disappointed and don't think it would have slowed down Windows 8's new sexy features too much. You can still search the net for the individual gadgets if you are looking for a particular one, but they are already difficult to find so zip them up and save off the .gadget files on your machine. It will not matter beyond Windows 7 though because they will not be supported in Windows 8, so enjoy them on your already out-of-date Windows 7 PC (a little tongue-and-cheek there obviously). Or you can still use Yahoo Widgets which you can check out here, and they have a massive widget library:

Yahoo! Widgets

Well the nice thing about this blog is hopefully I can come back in a few years and maybe 'eat crow' showing I was all wrong. But for the time being I am disappointed to see the desktop widgets essentially discontinued, and I feel Microsoft may have missed the bulls-eye a bit on this decision.

Anyone reading this feel free to post links to websites, SkyDrive locations etc, to share .gadget files if you wish.

My New Computer: A Developers Dream

Well call me old school, but I still like a bangin' desktop for my main home PC. For the general user mostly not moving beyond the bounds of the web for computer use any machine from a laptop, netbook, tablet, or heck even a smart phone will suffice. However any serious users doing coding in .NET with VS.NET, video transfer + editing, gaming, photo editing, etc. you really need a *real* machine that can handle the load. Nothing more scalable and well built then a sweet looking mid-tower loaded with lots of horsepower.

Recently I began assembling my new main home PC and I love it! I have found that building a PC and maybe updating just memory, video card, or even CPU will last much, much longer than purchasing any kind of store bought machine. Case in point, the last PC I built was in the fall of 2003. It was a Socket 478 Asus Motherboard mid-tower. It lasted me until I built this new machine just a few weeks ago. How? I upgraded from a Celeron to a P4 Extreme Edition, updated the RAM, updated the video card, and got almost 8 years out of it. Still a fantastic machine I gave to my brother-in-law because it still ran XP really well. Hopefully I get several years out of my new machine as well.

Because of this gap I never experimented with any RAID configuration, etc to increase the PCs main bottleneck: the magnetic disk hard drive. With my new build I wanted all of the best but yet still be on a budget. I was determined to use a Solid State Drive (SSD) for the primary OS drive, and a decent HDD for the additional space needs. Once I caught wind of the new Intel i7 'Sandy Bridge' line of processors, I knew it was time to build. Not only are the Sandy Bridge Generation 2 i7 processors about 1/2 the cost of good Generation 1 i7 processors, they are faster too.

My budget was to be around $1000-$1200. The hands-down best place anywhere to get good deals on computer hardware is http://www.newegg.com Between their 'Shell-Shocker' deals, coupon codes, sales, and overall low prices, I was able to build my new machine for under $1200. I am not including the OS because that is a given. My build was using Windows 7 64-bit Ultimate. So let's get to the parts ->>

LIAN LI Lancool PC-K63 Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - Cost $99 via 'Shell-Shocker' deal. The case is fantastic! There really are no screws, everything snaps into place. Cable management is routed through guides so there isn't a big mess. There are several blue LED fans which make the case stand out too.

ASUS P8P67 (REV 3.0) LGA 1155 Intel P67 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard - Cost $154 with coupon code. I love Asus motherboards. There is so much configurability and expansion. This is the entry level P8P67 ATX board, but since I am not doing dual graphics cards needing SLI support, this board works great for me.

KINGWIN Lazer LZ-1000 1000W Modular 80 PLUS BRONZE Certified Active PFC W/ 3-Way LED Switch and Universal Modular Connector Power Supply - Cost $119 via 'Shell-Shocker' deal. 1000 watts, enough said? Bronze certified, modular connections, and a blue LED fan to match the case. Perfect choice for me.

Intel Core i7-2600 Sandy Bridge 3.4GHz (3.8GHz Turbo Boost) 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1155 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80623I7260 - Cost $285 with coupon code. This i7 CPU as of this post is about the fastest CPU on the market right now. Combine this with a SSD, and Windows 7 64-bit and you will get some BLAZING fast speeds.

Kingston SSDNow V+ Series SNVP325-S2B/128GB 2.5" 128GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD) - Cost $165 after mail-in rebate. This is the 1st SSD I have ever owned and it is about the best PC component purchase I have ever made. It is only SATA II and the speed is amazing. These deals are going to make magnetic drives obsolete in a few years once the price comes down a bit more.

Western Digital Caviar Black WD7502AAEX 750GB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive - Cost $59 after coupon code. The 'Black Caviar' Wester Digital drives have the best warranty in class at (3) years, and are the most durable of the green,blue,black line of drives. SATA III 6Gb/s this drive is super fast for a traditional HDD. I just hope WD gets going with SSDs so they don;t end up like Blockbuster video wondering what happened with NetFlix.

SAPPHIRE 100297L Radeon HD 5830 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card w/ ATI Eyefinity Technology - Cost $139 after coupon code. This has already come down further in price since I bought it (big surprise right?) but it is a solid, well preforming, 256-bit GDDR5 board that will handle a plethora of modern day gaming and video needs.

CORSAIR XMS 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model CMX8GX3M2A1600C9 - Cost $75 after mail-in rebate. Fast, compatible, easy installation. I don;t get too much into memory overclocking so this memory is working fine for me. Honestly in all of the memory research I did, I really started to wonder if the whole 'heat-sink' super duper memory x2 in price for same speed had negligible performance gains and was probably a gimmick. I say get what's compatible and as much as you can.

Sony Optiarc CD/DVD Burner 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM Black SATA Model AD-7261S-0B LightScribe Support - Cost $24 after coupon code. Fast, quiet, Sony brand, LightScribe. If you have never used LightScribe I recommend getting it. Turn over the DVD or CD after burning a LightScribe disk and burn some really cool text or images to the disk. It's been around for years but not too many know about using it.

Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM - Cost $7 after coupon code. Get some as it is a good idea when installing the CPU to transfer heat best.

Logitech 920-000914 Black 106 Normal Keys USB Wired Ultra-thin Illuminated Keyboard - Cost $45 Refurbished (eBay purchase). This was the only product I did not buy from NewEgg; I got it on eBay for about 2/3 the cost. The Refurbished product was in perfect condition, and I am using it right now! An illuminated keyboard is a purchase I am wondering why I didn;t have about 5-10 years ago. I really like it a lot.

Total cost: $1171. Now some pictures:

Well how is the overall performance when benchmarked? Well I don;t have any fancy tools, but using Windows 7's 'Windows Experience Index' the machine scored a 7.0 on a possible 7.9 scale:

The end result? Windows 7 64-bit installed in 12 minutes, the machine boots to desktop ready for use in about 15 seconds, and shut down time is about 4 seconds. Opening applications like VS.NET 2010? Almost instant. AWESOME! Hope this machine lasts me 8 years like my last one, to get everything out of it. I think every developer should have a machine like this. If you get a chance to build one similar, I highly recommend it.

Dealing With The 'Unrecognized Element 'extendedProtectionPolicy'' Exception

Recently I began using Windows 7 Ultimate in addition to VS.NET 2008. I had to refresh a reference to an existing WCF service which did just fine. However, upon deploying the application back out to the production Windows Server 2003 server, I began to see the following exception being thrown:

"Unrecognized element 'extendedProtectionPolicy' "

I actually could have seen this listed as a 'Warning' prior to compile with the following message as well:

"The element 'transport' cannot contain child element 'extendedProtectionPolicy' because the parent element's content model is empty."

This is all in reference to the following configuration element that appeared in my client's .config file in regards to the WCF service being consumed:

Regardless of where the issue is noticed, it appears this is caused by the usage of multiple platforms. It appears that the configuration is only created when consuming the service on my Windows 7 development box, but then not recognized by other platforms such as Windows Server 2003. The 'ExtendedProtection' configuration as I understand is to help prevent attacks during the credential challange process. However due to its staged rolluot, it is not fully supported and hence the above errors are generated.

The fix? Simple for the time being. Just remove the tag and redeploy the configuration. Depending on the configuration, it may be embedded between a set of "Transport" tags. If this is the case remove the inner "extendedProtectionPolicy" tag, and shorthand the end of the transport tag "/>"

How To: Set Up BitLocker Full Disk Encryption + Pre-Boot Pin in Windows 7 Ultimate

Ok, this goes in the "and Beyond..." category because this post is not specific to .NET, but about setting up full disk encryption using a product by Microsoft named BitLocker. BitLocker is included is some of the premium Windows Vista and Windows 7 editions; specifically this post speaks of how to set up full disk encryption on Windows 7 Ultimate Edition.

There are several reasons for using full disk encryption; sometimes it is a requirement of the company you work for, or maybe you have sensitive information that needs to be secured in the event of your computer being lost or stolen. While traditionally you may think of using BitLocker just for laptops because of their portability which brings an increased risk of loss or theft, this could be done on a desktop with the appropriate hardware required as well.

I will preface these directions with some cautions and warnings. The process although not rocket science, is a series of steps that must be followed quite closely with no variations. I myself have had some unsuccessful attempts at setting up the encryption, which caused an OS failure, and the need to reformat and reinstall the OS again. That being said... "BACK UP EVERYTHING IMPORTANT BEFORE SETTING UP ENCRYPTION!" Ideally, you would do this initially upon getting a new laptop with Windows 7, or after doing a fresh install. That way if you run into any major issues, you can re-image the machine to its default configuration and start over again. I do believe that encryption overall makes the hard drive a tad bit more volatile, so regardless of the success of encrypting your disk, I recommend backing up important files from time to time after encryption is complete.

There are a few prerequisites to using BitLocker and full disk encryption. 1st, you need to have Administrative rights on the machine. The 2nd I already spoke of and that is needing Windows 7 Ultimate. The 3rd is a device that is imbedded in the laptop or machine called a TPM or "Trusted Platform Module". The TPM is responsible for generating and storing a keyset used for the drive encryption and for integrity checks of the system boot files. This results in securing the system volume with encryption and integrity checking the system boot files to ensure that nothing has been tampered with and the system drive is located in the original computer. Only then is decryption preformed. While there are software only solution for full drive encryption, they are more susceptible to hackers than BitLocker used with a TPM. Microsoft has published a wealth of detail on the underlying workings of BitLocker and the TPM, so I will not repeat it here. If you are interested, check out either of the following sites:

BitLocker Drive Encryption Team Blog

TechNet: BitLocker Drive Encryption

Alright now to the meat and potatoes of this project. Remember, try to follow each step as closely as possible without deviation for the nest results.

Step # 1: Backup all important files. Let me say again... Back up all important files. Just in case you have any issue with setting up BitLocker, you will not have lost all of your important data.

Step # 2: Update the BIOS for your machine to the most up to date version. Each motherboard or machine is going to have their own website for instructions and downloading and updating the BIOS. For example Dell has a site for its updates, ASUS has a site for their motherboard updates, etc. Oh, and if you are reading this and not sure what the BIOS is... I recommend to halt this procedure and not continue. Just my advice.

Step # 3: Log into Windows after the BIOS is updated and go to the following: Start -> Control Panel -> BitLocker Encryption. Find your Hard Drive and select "Turn BitLocker On". It should probably not work giving you the message below stating a TPM could not be found. If for some reason the BitLocker process begins because your TPM was already configured, should cancel the process and do the 2nd part of Step # 4: Configuring the boot sequence from the BIOS.


Step # 4: Enter the BIOS on boot and Enable the TPM and configure the boot sequence. 1st, enter the BIOS and find the TPM settings. They are probably under a 'Security' heading or something similar. All BIOS menus are different, so I don’t have the specific directions for each one, but navigate around until you find it. Once you do, select the option to enable it. 2nd, reconfigure the boot sequence. Make sure that any option for USB or Flash drives boot AFTER the Hard Drive. This sort of undocumented step caused me a lot of failed encryptions in later steps. The reason is that upon doing the BitLocker System Check, the system reboots and checks to make sure the generated keys placed on your USB Flash Drive actually work properly, prior to actually doing the encryption. Well if the USB is ordered to boot prior to the hard drive, the machine thinks you are using the USB as a boot device and forfeits the BitLocker check. You need to have the hard drive boot prior to the USB drive. No worries, though, if you ever need to boot from a DVD or flash, just go back in and switch the order to do whatever processing you need and then switch it back. Save your changes and exit the BIOS.

Step # 5: Set up BitLocker and the TPM. Log all the way back into Windows (do not shut down in-between) and go back to the BitLocker Encryption option in the Control Panel. Press "Turn On BitLocker" again. This time the BitLocker process will recognize a TPM enabled and being the process. You should see screens such as the following below:


Press 'Next' to begin BitLocker preparations:


Press 'Next' to begin the allocation of space for BitLocker:


Press 'Restart Now' and allow the machine to reboot as displayed below:


Upon logging back into Windows, BitLocker will continue the process automatically, so do not attempt to open anything else. You will see the screen below, and to continue the process press 'Next':


Upon completing the steps above, you will be prompted to reboot the computer so that the TPM can be configures. Press 'Restart' as directed. Upon rebooting, you will see a basic MS-DOS old school looking screen informing you that the TPM has been modified and do you want to allow the modification. Allow the modification and follow the directions to press the appropriate button. In my case I selected the 'Modify' (not the 'Ignore') so that the TPM configuration could be modified. Upon completion, the machine will reboot. Log all the way back into Windows. The BitLocker process will proceed automatically again. You should see a screen like below:


One the TPM hardware has been configured you will see a screen like below; press 'Next' to continue the process:


At this point you will be prompted to save off the recovery keys. These are the keys that are stored in the TPM, and are only needed in the event of system tampering or breech. I recommend doing all (3) options, and storing the keys to a USB drive, printing them off, and saving them off to a location OTHER THAN the system drive (secure network share, etc.). Obviously I should not need to explains too much here that the keys regardless of type (paper, USB, file) need to be locked away. Don’t leave the USB on the desk next to the laptop, or the paper with the keys folded under the machine. That is like leaving the keys to the car in the door lock. Continuing on...press each option in the screen below to save off the keys:


Step # 6: Run the BitLocker Check (USB with keys saved from Step # 5 required for this step). After saving the keys from above, press 'Next. You will see the screen below asking if you want to run the BitLocker check. While not required, I recommend doing it. You don't want to encrypt the drive until you have tested that the generated keys actually work. Check the box to run the BitLocker check and make sure that the USB drive IS INSERTED in the machine. Press 'Next' and the following reminder and reboot screens will be displayed:




Step # 7: Full drive encryption. Upon a successful reboot and USB keys check, the BitLocker process will automatically being the encryption process of the system volume. This will take several hours depending on the size of the drive, but you can continue to work in the background if needed. However, do not reboot or shut down during the encryption process. You can lock your machine if needed. The encryption dialog (shown below) will display the progress.


Step # 8: Configure the machine policy to require a pre boot PIN + TPM (Optional). Once the encryption is complete, you are technically done. The drive is encrypted and secure. You will notice upon reboot you are never prompted for the keys or a password. That's normal. The TPM has the keys, and if there was any breech or integrity failure, you would be prompted for the keys. Otherwise the authentication occurs in the background and is seamless.

However, to strengthen your security you may want to configure a pre boot PIN that works separately but in conjunction with the TPM. To accomplish this, follow Step # 8 and Step # 9 and Step # 10.

We need to open the Group Policy editor for the machine. Goto Start -> and type in gpedit.msc and press 'Enter'. Then Goto: Local Computer Policy > Computer Configuration > Administrative Templates > Windows Components > BitLocker Drive Encryption > Operating System Drives and right click the option "Require additional authentication at startup" and select "Edit". The screen is displayed below:


Select "Enabled" and then select "Require startup PIN with TPM" under the "Configure TPM startup PIN:" dropdown. Click "Apply, "OK" then close the dialog and Group Policy editor. This now allows us to configure the pre boot PIN from the command prompt.

Step # 9: Goto Start and type in cmd but do NOT press enter. Once the cmd application displays in the start menu, right click it and state "Run as Administrator". Click "Yes" on any security dialogs that may appear. To configure the pin we need to use the manage-bde.exe tool. To configure the PIN, enter the following and then press 'Enter':

manage-bde -protectors -add %systemdrive% -tpmandpin

You will be prompted to enter a PIN. (Note: I did notice if you still have the USB with the keys inserted into the machine, this process does not work - the command prompt never asks you to enter the PIN; make sure to remove it before doing this process). The PIN by default can only be numeric. There is an option in the group policy editor from Step # 7, to allow complex PINs for this process, but wars not all systems support it. Since you may not find that out until reboot, and not be able to log back in, I suggest just using a numeric PIN. You will be prompted to enter it twice, and upon success, see a screen like the one below:


Step # 10: Reboot and test the PIN. Upon rebooting, after the quick flash of your system manufacture screen, you should receive an old MS-DOS style screen prompting you for your PIN. It tells you the function keys can be used to represent numbers, but I always just use the keypad and it works fine. If needed, the option is there. Upon entering the correct PIN the machine will continue booting into Windows. One note on the pre-boot PIN: I have found that if you have your USB containing the keys inserted upon boot, it assumes you are validated and skips the prompting of the PIN. Since your USB drive should be locked away, you will be prompted for the PIN, but again, another nice option if needed.

And that is it! Hopefully your encryption process went well and you are complete at this point. I have done this process on 7 different machines with success, so I know it works when followed as directed. Your drive will now be secure with BitLocker.