So are gadgets really not safe?

[Knightmare25]

I downloaded some third party gadgets that show CPU temps, GPU temps, etc, all from addgadgets.com. Should I uninstall them?

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Those are the same gadgets that used to be offered at the official Windows gadget download area for Windows 7. Microsoft released a warning a little over a year ago that exploits had been found making them potentially dangerous. They stopped offering them at the same time.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Windows-8-Sidebar-Gadgets-Security-Advisory-Black-Hat,16265.html

So it's really up to you if you find them more useful than the potential risk. I stopped using them myself and moved to Rainmeter. Rainmeter allows a huge amount of customization and is safe as far as I know.

http://rainmeter.net/cms/

Skins

http://rainmeter.net/cms/Discover

 

[RealBeast]

I don't know that site or quality of their software, but I would recommend Core Temp and HWMonitor from HERE and HERE since I have used them both for years and know that they work well.

 

[Knightmare25]

I have HWMonitor but I like the gadgets because they are always open.

 

[Knightmare25]

Those are the same gadgets that used to be offered at the official Windows gadget download area for Windows 7. Microsoft released a warning a little over a year ago that exploits had been found making them potentially dangerous. They stopped offering them at the same time.

http://www.tomshardware.com/news/Windows-8-Sidebar-Gadgets-Security-Advisory-Black-Hat,16265.html

So it's really up to you if you find them more useful than the potential risk. I stopped using them myself and moved to Rainmeter. Rainmeter allows a huge amount of customization and is safe as far as I know.

http://rainmeter.net/cms/

Skins

http://rainmeter.net/cms/Discover

Does Rainmeter let me see my CPU temp, GPU temp, RAM, etc?

 

[Deleted member 217926]

Yes. You can literally set up Rainmeter to display anything. Here is my desktop a few months ago.

 

[Knightmare25]

Seems a little confusing at first. And it doesn't look like anything Rainmeter has is as detailed as the gadgets I have.

 

[andrew_berge]

Well, it can be customized to show just about any information you want. Sometimes, you'll need other software running to feed the data to rainmeter, though.
My skin features average CPU use, frequency and temperature. RAM, HDD and network use. Battery level. Weather forecasts:
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7904468/Desktop/screen2.jpg

Making your own skin takes some time and skill, but there are hundreds of premade skins out there, too.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

There are literally hundreds of different skins for Rainmeter. You can use any gadgets in any combination from any skins you have installed. Read up a bit on using it and things will get less confusing. The sheer numbers of gadgets can be confusing. It took me a week or so of playing with it to really find out what I like.

My current desktop.