Windows 7 gadgets may not work or be displayed correctly

Windows 7 gadgets may stop working or might not be displayed correctly. For example, gadgets may be displayed in the following ways: 

• Gadgets may be displayed as black squares.
• Gadgets may be displayed that have vertical green lines down the center, or gadgets may not be displayed at all.
• Gadgets may have blue exclamation marks next to them.
• The Calendar gadget may be displayed as an orange background that does not have dates.

This issue may occur if the following conditions are true:

• System Restore was performed.
  
  For more information about System Restore, visit the following Microsoft website:
  System Restore (http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/products/features/system-restore)
• User Account Control (UAC) is turned on.
  
  For more information about how to enable the UAC, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
  975787  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/975787/ ) Guided Help: Adjust User Account Control settings in Windows 7
• The scannow command finds missing or corrupted system files.
  
  For more information about the scannow command, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
  929833  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929833/ ) How to use the System File Checker tool to troubleshoot missing or corrupted system files on Windows Vista or on Windows 7

To enable the gadgets to display correctly, follow the steps in the following methods starting with method 1. If method 1 does not resolve the problem, go to method 2, and so on.

Method 1: Restore gadgets to the default settings

1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Appearance and Personalization.
2. Under Desktop Gadgets, click Restore Desktop Gadgets installed with Windows.

Method 2: Turn off and then turn on the Windows Gadgets Platform

1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then click Programs.
2. Under Programs and Features, click Turn Windows features on or off.
3. Click to clear the Windows Gadgets Platform check box.
4. Click OK for the change to take effect, and then restart your computer.
5. Enable the Windows Gadgets Platform. To do this, follow steps 1 through 5. However, make sure that you click to select the Windows Gadgets Platform check box in step 3.

Method 3: Install the Internet Explorer 9 security update

If you are using Internet Explorer 9 and gadgets are not displayed correctly, install the following security update.

Security update information

Install the most recent cumulative security update for Internet Explorer 9. To do this, visit the following Microsoft website:For more technical information about the most recent cumulative security update for Internet Explorer, visit the following Microsoft website:Note This update was first included in security update 2586448.

For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:


Important The following methods contain steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 322756How to back up and restore the registry in Windows

Method 4: Change the registry value for Value data in Zones subkey to 0

To fix this problem automatically, go to the "Fix it for me" section. If you prefer to fix this problem yourself, go to the "Let me fix it myself" section.

Fix it for me

To fix this problem automatically, click the Fix it button or link. In the File Download dialog box, click Run and then follow the steps in the Fix it Wizard.



Notes

• This wizard may be in English only. However, the automatic fix also works for other language versions of Windows.
• If you are not on the computer that has the problem, save the Fix it solution to a flash drive or a CD, and then run the Fix it solution on the computer that has the problem.

Then, go to the "Did this fix the problem?" section.

Let me fix it myself

Edit the registry to change the Value data in the Zones registry setting.

1. Click Start, and then type regedit in the Search box.
2. Click regedit.exe under Programs.
3. Browse to and select the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Zones\0
4. In the right-side pane, right-click 1200, and then click Modify.
5. In the Value data box, type either 1 or 0 to overwrite the existing value of 3.
6. Click OK, and then exit Registry Editor.
7. Check whether the problem is resolved.

The values 0, 1, and, 3 are associated with the following behavior: 

• 0 = Enabled, or the action is permitted
• 1 = Prompt
• 3 = Disabled, or the action is not permitted

Note If you type 1 in the Value data box, you receive the following prompt when you start Microsoft Project:
Additionally, you may receive this prompt at other times when you use Microsoft Project. If you do not want to receive this prompt, type 0 in the Value data box.

Method 5: Delete the additional (parasite) zone from the Zones subkey

To fix this problem automatically, go to the "Fix it for me" section. If you prefer to fix this problem yourself, go to the "Let me fix it myself" section.

Fix it for me

To fix this problem automatically, click the Fix it button or link. In the File Download dialog box, click Run, and then follow the steps in the Fix it Wizard.


Notes

• This wizard may be in English only. However, the automatic fix also works for other language versions of Windows.
• If you are not on the computer that has the problem, save the Fix it solution to a flash drive or a CD, and then run Fix it solution on the computer that has the problem.

Then, go to the "Did this fix the problem?" section.

Let me fix it myself

Edit the registry by following these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Expand the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Zones
3. Delete the additional (parasite) zone from the Zones subkey.
   
   Note The parasite zone is a pseudo-graphic number that is listed before zone number 0. The pseudo-graphic number resembles a miniature uppercase L character.
   
4. Exit Registry Editor.
5. Check whether the issue is resolved.

Did this fix the problem?

• Check whether the problem is fixed. If the problem is fixed, you are finished with this section. If the problem is not fixed, you can contact support (http://support.microsoft.com/contactus) .
• We would appreciate your feedback. To provide feedback or to report any issues with this solution, please leave a comment on the "Fix it for me (http://blogs.technet.com/fixit4me/) " blog or send us an email message (mailto:fixit4me@microsoft.com?Subject=KB) .

For more information about gadgets, see the following Microsoft websites: