<li> A Google search for 'swing sliding panel' gave this as the first result: http://www.java2s.com/Product/Java/Swing/OutlookBar-SlidePane.htm
<li> The page contains links to SyGem Software products
<li> On clicking a SyGem link, Avira flagged a virus but the computer was infected. I suspect multiple malware and that the infection resulted from a virus/adware that went undetected by Avira
<li> The symptoms observed are regular popping up of the default browser with advertising pages, and corruption of Windows7 desktop gadgets, with the clock showing as a black square with a second hand pointing straight up
<li> Downloaded and installed Ad-Aware, which flagged and removed 10 malware objects. During the scan it halted the process <tt>zrr.exe</tt> several times.
<li> With guidance from various Microsoft and third party help/support sites I removed the registry folder
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Zones\
(in case that last character doesn't display in your browser, it's the graphic character for the left bottom corner of a box -- looks a lot like L)
<li> This solved the problem as far as the gadgets are concerned. I'll watch for a few days before I can be sure that all problems are solved
This is being multiposted on the Swing forum and cross posted to other Java forums.
db