Top 7 Best Widgets for Games on Windows PCs
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World of Warcraft Dock
A World of Warcraft dock bar from where you can launch the most used WoW related applications and websites that offer you insight of the game.
World of Warcraft Dock is a widget that is aimed to incorporate anything a serious World of Warcraft player needs.
Besides the obvious game launcher, the application offers you shortcuts to Ventrilo and Teamspeak, and also supplies you with two folders in which you can store websites with everything that is WoW related and of interest to you.
Being able to access all of these from one place is really nice since you can start up Ventrilo, get in touch with your guild buddies and with a bunch of WoW dedicated websites available at your fingertips, you are able to start planning your next raid while the game loads.
Easy to install and configure
World of Warcraft Dock relies on Yahoo! Widget Engine which needs to be installed first before you can use the dock. Both of these are very easy to install and you should be ready to use them within a minute or two at most.
The widget is set to take the launcher.exe from its default install location but if for some reason you have the game running from a different place, World of Warcraft Dock enables you to manually find the .exe file. The same applies to the two VoIP applications, Ventrilo and Teamspeak.
Bookmark WoW websites
As mentioned before, World of Warcraft Dock allows you to set a number of five custom websites which can quickly be launched from the widget. You can use these to store a forum that you follow or any page that offers World of Warcraft tips.
Since five websites can’t possibly cover all that is World of Warcraft, the widget also comes with built-in search engine that you can use to look up information online.
Quick access to all things WoW
With the above to consider and a few more things left to discover, World of Warcraft Dock is by all means a handy and practical launcher for the game and everything else you use with it.
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Snes9x
Play the old-school games you used to love playing on your Super Nintendo Entertainment System using this simple and straightforward emulator.
Snes9x is a Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) emulator that enables you to play all games developed for SNES and Super Famicom Nintendo straight on your Windows workstation.
Just like any other emulator, you need to download separate ROMs from the Internet, but the truth is that Snes9x works flawlessly with all of them.
The interface consists mostly of the emulated game, while the configuration screens and menus allow users to tweak its behavior.
Besides the fact that it shows ROM information and bundles dedicated tools for movie and AVI recording, Snes9x comes with excellent support for peripherals. As such, you can always play your favorite games with game controllers - configuration is just a breeze thanks to the well-developed “Input” screen.
Setting up sound and video configurations is easy, because Snes9x boasts features to adjust playback rate, buffer length, channels, enable 16-bit sound and stereo, stretch image, maintain aspect ratio or enable bilinear filtering.
Last but not least, the application sports netplay capabilities, which means you can either connect to a server or set the app to act as one. As a result, you can send ROM image to clients straight from within the program, but also sync using reset game.
Also, Snes9x runs on very low computer resources and is compatible with all Windows versions out there.
So all things considered, this is one of the best Nintedo emulators out there. And since the Internet is full of compatible ROMs, it would be a shame not to give it a try.
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Astronomy Picture of the Day
Display NASA's "Astronomy Picture of the Day" by turning to this Yahoo! widget that requires the Yahoo! Widget engine to be installed.
Working for a long time on your computer can bring a lot of stress into your life, even though it might seem like an easy, comfortable activity and taking a break is many times not an available option for most PC users.
However, despite the fact that nothing beats a good old break from staring intensely at your monitor, there are a lot of ways that you can customize your workspace so it doesn't feel so hostile every time you turn it on. Astronomy Picture of the Day is one of them.
Displays astronomy pictures
Granted, this tool might not be suitable for just about anyone, especially if you're not an astronomy enthusiast or don't enjoy a marvelous display of galaxies, stars and planets every now and then.
This utility is actually a widget that displays the current "Astronomy Picture of the Day" from NASA's website and upon hovering your cursor over the image provides you with a brief explanation in a tooltip. Note that it requires the Yahoo! Widget Engine in order to function properly on the target computer.
Quick access to further explanation
If you are among the Astronomy enthusiasts mentioned above, you can access even more information on the picture you're currently viewing by simply clicking it.
Doing so lets you access NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day page on their website, where the picture will be displayed in full-size and a more comprehensive explanation regarding the picture is provided to you.
Nice widget for Astronomy fans
All in all, if you're in the mood of seeing new pictures of galaxies, stars, planets and other celestial bodies on your desktop every day, you might want to give Astronomy Picture of the Day a try. It can be easily deployed on your PC, but not before installing Yahoo! Widget Engine, which is a required component.
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Quick ESP Test
An interactive Yahoo! gadget that helps you test your guessing abilities using Zener cards, while running on low system resources.
Quick ESP Test is a lightweight Yahoo! widget built specifically for helping you test your extra-sensory perception using Zener cards.
It boasts a clean and intuitive layout that allows you to perform most operations with just a few clicks.
The gadget lets you select one of the Zener cards, namely a circle, Greek cross, three vertical wavy lines, square, or a star. You are required to guess nine cards from a total of 25 hits.
What’s more, Quick ESP Test keeps the score and displays the number of correct hits. On the downside, there is no support for exporting your results to a file.
Other options offered by the Yahoo! environment give you the possibility to prevent the windows from being dragged, set the opacity level, and ignore mouse events.
You can also make the gadget stay on top of other applications, and this proves to pretty useful, especially when dealing with multiple tools at the same time. What’s more, you can hide or close the widget, and move it to any area of the screen.
Since it doesn’t comprise any configuration settings of its own, even rookies can master the process with just a few clicks.
During our testing we have noticed that Quick ESP Test carries out a task very quickly, and no errors showed up throughout the entire process. As it would be expected from such a small utility, it remains light on system resources, so it doesn’t burden the overall performance of the computer, nor interfere with other programs’ functionality.
To sum things up, Quick ESP Test proves to be a simple-to-use desktop enhancement utility that helps you test your guessing abilities.
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Rubik's Cube
Yahoo! Widget Engine game that mimics Rubik's Cube, enabling you to scramble tiles, reset the game, and click on arrows to move rows.
Designed for Yahoo! Widget Engine, this is a desktop game that mimics Rubik's Cube, where it's necessary to match all squares by color using various algorithms. You can use the mouse cursor to move the cube tiles as well as click a button to scramble them and restart the game.
Scramble cube tiles and reset the game
Provided that you already have Yahoo! Widget Engine installed, it's easy to set up this application. By default, the cube has matched colors, so you can get started by scrambling the tiles.
When Rubik's Cube is the active program, it shows three mirrors on the left and right side of the cube, as well as on the bottom, so you can get a view of all sides and carefully plan your next moves.
You can click one of the displayed arrow buttons to move the row in the corresponding direction, reset the game or scramble the tiles again, as well as click on three smaller images representing the cube, in order to change the perspective and concentrate on another cube side.
Pristine or worn-looking cube
As far as configuration settings are concerned, you can keep the cube in pristine condition or show it as worn, and instruct the gadget to keep the mirrors visible even when it's not the active application.
The other options are shared between most Yahoo! Widget Engine gadgets: you can make the frame stay on top or below any other windows, set the tool to ignore the mouse cursor and prevent dragging, as well as adjust the frame's opacity level.
Conclusion
To sum it up, this is a simple and entertaining widget for playing with a Rubik's cube. However, you should keep in mind that it won't receive additional updates, since the Yahoo! Widget Engine project was discontinued a while back.
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Quick Lottery Picker
Small and non-obtrusive Yahoo! gadget which was designed in order to help you quickly pick random numbers for any type of lottery.
Quick Lottery Picker is a tiny software tool, built for Yahoo! Widgets, so as to generate random numbers, to serve as inspiration for the upcoming lottery.
The interface encompasses a minimal and user-friendly design, and thus allows anybody to find their way around it, without facing any problems. Aside from that, it is fairly unobtrusive, seeing that it does not appear in the taskbar or system tray, and can be closed with a single click.
This program enables you to draw a maximum of twelve balls from 99 numbers, and these parameters can be easily controlled with the help of the built-in arrows. Once you have set up these configurations, you simply have to click the “Go” button and, in a matter of seconds, the results will be displayed. You should also know it is possible to sort the numbers in an ascending manner.
Right-clicking the tool’s frame brings up a context menu which enables you to view information about the developers, close or hide it and access the settings panel.
The latter lets you force the widget to always stay on top of other programs, ignore all mouse events, prevent dragging and adjust the opacity levels with the help of a scroll bar (from 20% up to 100%).
All in all, Quick Lottery Picker proves to be a pretty decent piece of software, which does not hinder the computer’s performance, as it requires low CPU and RAM to work properly. It has a good response time and an intuitive environment. Nevertheless, an update would be greatly beneficial.
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PotBot's Poker Suite
Practice for your next poker tournament or tweak your current game strategy to increase your chances of winning using this application.
While playing poker is an overall nice and relaxing activity, winning the game is usually a hard task to achieve. In fact, unless you are willing to develop a strategy and stick to it, chances are that you are going to end up spending more money than you intend to.
PotBot's Poker Suite is a piece of software that enables you to learn game statistics and other important data to help you come up with an effective strategy while playing Texas Hold'em.
Neatly arranged and sleek UI
Upon launch, you are asked whether you want to create your own server where your friends can join, access one of the existing servers or whether you prefer to play against the AI bots. Irrespective of your choice, you can play and practice within a modern and well-organized interface.
As you would expect, the main window is set on a dark green background, whereas the players are arranged all around the table. In the upper section, you can preview a log that displays the current actions at the table.
Comes with a useful showdown calculator function
The highlight of the application is the calculator feature that enables you simulate combination of cards and preview the likelihood to win, draw a tie or loose with them. It is necessary to mention that you can analyze percentages pre-flop and post-flop and determine the chances of getting a flush, pairs or the runner, runner set, for instance.
Unfortunately, you cannot select your seat at the table, a feature that some users could find useful when playing against other real players.
At the same time, the current action report disappears too fast when you are out of the game, so you cannot really analyze the moves minutely. Then again, you can access this information and view other relevant reports by accessing the Game Statistics function.
A fun way to perfect your poker game
Although it does not include advanced calculators or other tools required by professional players, PotBot's Poker Suite is a good application that can help you come up with a proficient game strategy.
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