Microsoft deems Windows Gadgets vulnerable to hacker exploits, issues fix

Gadgets were Microsoft's answer to Apple's Widgets. Mini apps that could run on top of your desktop and give you weather and news updates, flight information, stock tickers, webcam feeds, you name it

Aside from being an unwelcome reminder of the train wreck that was Windows Vista, it seems these Gadgets are extremely dangerous and should be removed completely.

"An attacker who successfully exploited a Gadget vulnerability could run arbitrary code in the context of the current user," company officials declared in an advisory issued yesterday. "If the current user is logged on with administrative user rights, an attacker could take complete control of the affected system." To be successful, they added: "An attacker would have to convince a user to install and enable a vulnerable Gadget."

Bad Gadgets! The best way to deal with this is to disable them completely and Microsoft has pulled the Gadget library altogether. In order to fix the situation Microsoft has enabled a quick fix that disables the sidebar and the widgets altogether.