Yahoo Widgets

I posted on this gizmo before Yahoo purchased it, when it was known as Konfabulator. I got carried away with it back then, installing way too many widgets, and wound up bringing my system to its knees. Despite my addiction to the Widgets program, I actually have to use my computer for silly things like forecasting and writing business documents, so I wound up uninstalling it.

I got curious again when Yahoo announced their purchase of Konfabulator, so I reinstalled it as Yahoo Widgets…and I’ve reinstalled and reinstalled and reinstalled. Every time I launch the engine I get a Visual C++ runtime error. I sent Yahoo support a message a couple of weeks ago but no reply. Based on what I’m seeing on the message board, I’m not the only one running into this problem.

I love Yahoo and I hope they’ll get this problem fixed soon. This utility rates extremely high on the cool factor – if you haven’t tried it yourself, do so right now. Let me know if you run into the same runtime error I’m encountering though…

Comments

[Ethan Watrall]

I took got a little widget happy when I first ran across Konfabulator. Every time I run across one of these kinds of programs (might think about them as web 1.5 apps), I immediately install them, kill my system, get disgruntled, and then uninstall them. As with you, I got curious again after Yahoo gobbled up Konfabulator. I downloaded and installed it yesterday, played around with it a bit, and then uninstalled it again. Its not that there is something wrong with it (infact, it works a little better then the last time I played with it). Its just such a memory hog (especially if you have a ton of widgets running on your desktop)...and I've got a pretty robust system (maxed out Dell XPS). Also, realistically speaking, how useful are the widgets for productivity and information. Why do a search from a widget on the desktop (which just pops open the browser anyway) when you can just open up your browser and do it that way. Yes, the app scores high on the coolness factor, I definitely don't deny that. I think I'm going to try out Goowy (a similar app where all of the widgets are Flash based). And, to answer your query, when I reinstalled it yesterday, I didn't encounter teh same runtime error.

[Greg]

I leave "weather" and "ip address" running most of the time and load a customized version of "ontario traffic cams" when I am about to travel. I loaded the Yahoo version 2.1.1 when I saw it (Fall of 2005) and now keep getting prompted to install 3.0.x. A version 2 to version 3 jump in that short time scared me. I like stability.

I, too, initially loaded everything in sight and choked my poor PIII-500. It runs fine with the minimal amount of stuff I load now.

[Joe Wikert]

Many thanks to Rick Watson over on his Smoke and Mirrors blog (http://rickwatson.tk421web.com/index.php/archive/yahoo-widget-engine-konfabulator.html). Remarkably enough, the solution to my Widgets runtime error was moving the My Widgets folder out of My Documents (where it synchronized) to another folder that doesn't synchronize. Works like a charm now!

[Thomas J Sebastian]

I had an interesting experience installing Yahoo! Widgets. I have done this twice now. I downloaded the installer and went through the install process and switched off all the defaults - Make Yahoo! toolbar, homepage etc. the defaults. When I tried launching the App I got a message saying that it was looking for "YahooWidgetEngine.exe" after which I got another message saying
QUOTE
The item "YahooWidgetEngine.exe" that this shortcut refers to has been changed or moved,so this shortcut will no longer work properly.
Do you want to delete this shortcut? Yes/No
UNQUOTE

When I say "Yes" it deletes the shortcut. However, when I proceed to uninstall Yahoo Widget Engine (by selecting the Uninstall option from the Start/Programs menu) it instantly selects Google Talk for Uninstall/Fix It/Delete It.

However, when I try it through Start/Control Panel/Add Remove Prgrams it unistalls without affecting Google Talk.

Is this just a weird coincidence?

[Mark Vane]

Hi, Added a new value add to my blog this weekend - a news widget from www.widgetmate.com. I always wanted to show latest news for my keywords in my sidebar. It was very easy with this widget. Just a small copy paste and it was done. Great indeed.