We all like the windows sidebar don’t we? It’s just something about all those stupid gadgets which we all love!

I personally do use the sidebar for a couple of useful gadgets (notepad, exchange rate) so it was good when I found this tweak that will set the sidebar to a low priority. Basically what it does is stop using recources on the sidebar when you are not using it, and of course not using resources makes your whole computer run faster.

So if you want to set your sidebar to low priority just do this tweak;

  • Disable your sidebar – you can find how to do that here
  • Open up computer (start – computer)
  • Press alt and select tools
  • Click folder option
  • Select the view tab
  • Select show hidden files and folders and click OK
    • Note: this may already be selected
  • Now exit tools
  • Navigate to this location
    • C:\users\(your username)\appdata\roaming\microsoft\windows\start menu\programs\startup\
  • Right click and click new shortcut
  • In the shortcut wizard put this in
    • C:\WINDOWS\system32\cmd.exe /c start “sidebar.exe” /LOW “C:\Program Files\windows sidebar\sidebar.exe”
    • Note: If you do have Vista installed on a different drive that C just change it
  • Done – The next time you open Vista the sidebar will show up just in low priority mode