1.5. Using the Stock gadget
Anyone who tracks securities, companies, or indexes in
the stock market will like the Stock gadget. This gadget provides an
overview of the major stock market indexes by default (see Figure 6). In the United States,
the major indexes are the Dow Jones Industrial Average ($INDU), the
NASDAQ Composite Index ($COMPX), and the S&P 500 Index ($INX).
Quotes are provided by the default quote provider with a 20-minute
delay. The default quote provider is IDC Comstock.
You can work with the Stock gadget in several ways. By default,
the Stock gadget displays details on three tracked stocks at a time,
in a vertical column. The most recently tracked stocks are listed
first. If you move the mouse pointer over the gadget, you’ll see a
control panel with several buttons. You can use the Scroll Up and
Scroll Down buttons to navigate through the summary details for the
stocks you are tracking.
You can change the position of a stock in the list by clicking
its entry and dragging it slowly up or down. Using this technique, you
can move a tracked stock from the bottom of the list to the top or
from the top of the list to the bottom.
If you move the mouse pointer over a stock entry, a delete
button is displayed in the upper-right corner. Click the delete button
to stop tracking the stock.
All publicly traded securities, companies, and indexes have a
stock symbol. If you want to add a security, company, or index, follow
these steps:
Move the mouse pointer over the Stock gadget.
Click the “Add a stock symbol” button. This displays the
second view of the Stock gadget, as shown in Figure 2-21.
In the Search box, enter the stock symbol for the security,
company, or index you want to track and press Enter. If the stock
is found, the stock is added to the list of tracked stock symbols,
and you’ll get quotes for it automatically.
If you want to view all of your tracked securities, companies,
and indexes, move the mouse pointer over the Stock gadget and click
the + button. To view a graph of the stock, move the mouse pointer
over the stock entry and click. Be careful not to click the stock
name, as this opens the stock’s MSN page in Internet Explorer.
1.6. Using the Currency gadget
Anyone who converts money from one currency to another
will like the Currency gadget. This gadget converts currency using the
current market rate, allowing you to see at a glance how much your
money is worth in another currency.
The default currency provider for this gadget is MSN Money. The
Currency gadget is handy for anyone traveling to a foreign country or
working in a country and getting paid in a currency other than the one
to which he is accustomed.
As Figure 7 shows, the
Currency gadget has two entries. The first entry sets the amount of a
specific currency you want to convert and the second entry is the
value in the specified currency. Using this feature you can, for
example, convert 10 U.S. dollars into euros or 10 euros into U.S.
dollars.
1.7. Using the Slide Show gadget
Users with pictures stored on the computer will like the
Slide Show gadget. This gadget displays pictures from a selected
folder as a continuous slide show where pictures rotate at a specified
interval (see Figure 8).
Moving the mouse pointer over the Slide Show gadget displays a
control panel that allows you to pause the slide show or play the
slide show. You can also navigate to the previous and next pictures
using the Previous and Next buttons. The View button opens the
currently displayed picture in Windows Live Photo Gallery.
By default, pictures in your Pictures Library are displayed in the slide show.
Right-click the Slide Show gadget and select Options, and you can
modify the Folder setting to use any preferred folder by following
these steps:
If you want to use your My
Pictures folder, click in the Folder list and select
My Pictures. To use another
folder, click the Browse button to display the Browse for Folder
dialog box. Use the Browse for Folder dialog box to locate and
select the folder you want to use, and then click OK.
To include subfolders of the selected folder, select the
Include Subfolders checkbox.
You can customize the way the slide show works by following
these steps:
Open the Slide Show Options dialog box by right-clicking the
Slide Show gadget and selecting Options.
Use the “Show each picture” list to set the duration to show
each picture. You can set the duration using preset intervals,
from five seconds to five minutes.
Use the “Transition between pictures” list to set
the transition to use when changing to a new picture. If you don’t
want to use transitions, select None. Otherwise, select the
desired transition, such as Fade.
By default, pictures are displayed in alphabetical order. To
shuffle pictures rather than display them in order, select the
“Shuffle pictures” checkbox.
