Before you start fixing the gadget...


Consider transition to our new application called Clipà.Vu Clipboard for Windows Desktop. The same problem cannot happen there because it is a self-hosted Windows program - not "only" a gadget.


It has many new features - do a quick compare of the new and the old product here.


By default it is delivered as free version that has limited capacity storage. You can increase that capacity either for free if you spread a few nice words about our apps or you can cheaply buy the full version that delivers the storage of 10.000 history clip (if so much is ever really needed...). You can also test the full version for 21 days for free. Such a test is worth in every case. Clipà.Vu is simply a way more powerful solution, especially keyboard shortcuts, direct pasting to the target document and newly also optional cloud sync are the features that will make you more productive.


Direct link to Clipà.Vu download can be found here.



Gadget problem explanation and possible fixes

This bug is related to the fact that Microsoft .NET technology has never been fully supported by Microsoft Gadgets platform. And after this platform got officially "discontinued" there is no chance it will ever be.

Unfortunately we never managed to get rid of this bug completely. It happens very rarely (approx. 100 reports on 100.000 downloads) - nobody was ever able to provide exact reproducible steps. Often it happens after months or even years of non-problematic usage. Sometimes it is caused by 3rd party "tune up" tools, sometimes it got reported after an OS upgrade or Service Pack installation.


For developers: If you are by any coincidence a developer with Visual Studio installed on your computer, please return back to us. Together we might be able to identify the exact cause of the problem.

For users: There is no guarantee it will work but you can try the following - from the simplest to the most complicated. Some of the users reported it got fix after the trivial Solution 1, some less lucky ones reported that even Solution 4 did not work. We have no any better receipt at the moment then these solutions.


Solutions reported by users:

November 2014, John: Problem disappeared after a simple computer restart.

January 2015, Stanlee: My computer got fixed by uninstalling Security Update for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB3021674).


Solution 1, re-open the gadget - simple & fast but probably not the fix:

1) Close the gadget

2) Open the Gadget Gallery (gadget manager that can be opened via right-click on the desktop and selecting "Gadgets")

3) Double-click "Clipboard Manager" (see attached screenshot)


Solution 2, restart your computer - simple but probably not the fix:

1) Close the gadget

2) Open the Gadget Gallery (gadget manager that can be opened via right-click on the desktop and selecting "Gadgets")

3) Double-click "Clipboard Manager" (see attached screenshot)


Solution 3, install the gadget latest version - takes a bit of time but might work:

1) Fully uninstall the current gadget version

2) Go here and click the Download Update button

3) Follow the steps described in the tutorial that opens simultaneously with the download start.


Solution 4, fix your .NET Framework 3.5 installation - takes longer but has the highest chance to be the real fix:

Warning! Very probably there are other programs on your system that depend on .NET Framework and Microsoft does not make it necessarily very simple to re-install it. We never got reported any broken system based on this solution but be aware that all you do you do on your own risk.

1) Fully uninstall the current gadget version
2) Navigate to "C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows Sidebar\Gadgets" and make sure it does not contain ClipboardManager.gadget subfolder. Replace %USERNAME% string with your windows user name or paste the whole string to Windows Explorer - it will resolve it automatically for you. In case ClipboardManager.gadget folder exists, delete it.

3) Re-install your .NET Framework 3.0 resp. 3.5 version, if your system already contains v3.0 or v3.5 it should be probably uninstalled first. This article describes how to detect which version of .NET Framework are installed on your computer. The goal is to have a fresh installation of Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 that can be downloaded here.
4) Restart your computer.

5) Go here and click the Download Update button

6) Follow the steps described in the tutorial that opens simultaneously with the download start.


In every case please let us know whether any of these steps worked for you.


Best regards
Jan Zeman, Clipà.Vu