Windows 7 National Rail 'widget'

[ess]

Is it still possible to download this desktop widget? It was very useful, always on the desktop and was a sea of red when there's disruption. Also it showed trains for going to work and changed to show trains going home in the afternoon

 

[antharro]

If you're referring to the gadget bar, then you may be able to find it around somewhere, but any official download will be gone however Microsoft discontinued the gadgets as they had a rather serious security problem.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/13787/gadgets-have-been-discontinued

Gadgets are no longer available on our website because the Windows Sidebar platform in Windows 7 and Windows Vista has serious vulnerabilities. Microsoft has retired the feature in newer releases of Windows. Gadgets could be exploited to harm your computer, access your computer's files, show you objectionable content, or change their behavior at any time. An attacker could even use a gadget to take complete control of your PC. If you're concerned about the safety of gadgets you’ve downloaded, find out more about gadgets and steps you can take to protect your PC.

 

[Bedpan]

Mine still works okay, (the live departure boards one where the next seven trains are shown) and it changes stations etc with no problem. With my one you can select an arrival station to show the next seven trains going theer, but it won't automatically change direction in the afternoon. The only one I had that doesn't work any longer is the weather one which suddenly began showing London and couldn't be changed from that, then required reconfiguring every few days, and then stopped working altogether.

 

[Bedpan]

I had been trying to find if there was a way to have this widget on my new recently purchased computer......this thread came up on google.......I read through it and when I got to the last post I thought to myself, that's funny, I had exactly the same experience with the departure board and weather widgets on my old computer. It was quite a while before I realised who had written the previous post.
DOH!!!!

 

[TL1]

I use 8 Gadget Pack which allows the same functionality on later versions of Windows https://8gadgetpack.net/

 

[D365]

I use 8 Gadget Pack which allows the same functionality on later versions of Windows https://8gadgetpack.net/

Is that really something you want to recommend, based on the security issues described above?

 

[najaB]

Is that really something you want to recommend, based on the security issues described above?

The security issues mainly came about because there was no obvious difference to the user between installing curated gadgets from the gallery and ones found on random websites, rather than the technology itself. If you only use gadgets from trusted sources then there's no more risk than running any other application.