I am afraid, to my knowledge, the first query would not be possible, as the sidebar itself is a gradient of black fading to background, and it doesn't have any other in-built options.
regarding your second query, I am again afraid, Vista's option doesn't help you much in that regard. May be you have search your manufacturer's website for additional drivers that lets you override the controls for battery and hopefully provide you with those options.
I am sorry I couldn't be of much help here...