Wigets..

Two ways:

1) Use the Widget manager by clicking on the "+" sign at the bottom right of the dashboard, then on the "Manage Widgets..." button. Follow the instructions in the manager.

2) hover the mouse pointer over a Widget, then hold down the Option key. An "X" in a circle will appear at the top left of the Widget. Click it & the Widget will be 'sucked' away.

To put a deactivated Widget back, click on the "+" sign again & click it from the icon list at the bottom.

And watch the cool animations for all this stuff, too!

To be honest, I'm not sure if there is a way with the pre-installed Widgets. I found the folder in which they are contained (Macintosh HD/Library/Widgets), but I cannot seem to be able to move them to another folder. Instead, it just wants to copy the widget, rather than moving it.

Maybe someone will correct me, but I do not think there is a way.

EDIT: Oops, forgot about the way the user above described.

There is no need to move them out of the folder. Only the ones you see in Dashboard are active. If you want to completely remove a pre-installed Widget from the folder to the Trash, you can do so, but you must enter an admin account password to do so.

Try looking at the middle part of this Apple support document in the section titled " Removing or disabling widgets" for illustrated instructions on doing what you want:

http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302240

BTW, you may be confused because I said the plus sign ➕ button was at the bottom right of the screen. It is at the bottom left of the screen. Sorry for the error. This appears as a "+" in a circle before you open the manager & as an "X" in a circle afterwards, as in the picture in the article. It is easy to overlook this control.

FWIW, the #2 method works like this:

1. Press & hold down the Option keyboard key
2. Move the mouse pointer onto any widget
3. The little "X" in a circle appears at the top left corner of the widget
4. Click the "X" & it is sucked away into the Widget bar
5. Release the Option key