Apart from choosing a wallpaper image for the Windows desktop, what else can you do to customize it? Actually here is quite a lot and Rainmeter is a fantastic utility for creating desktops.
Desktop gadgets were a great feature of earlier versions of Windows and it enabled small utilities and information panels to be displayed on the desktop. Unfortunately, Microsoft abandoned widgets and they are no longer in the latest version of Windows .
In some ways Rainmeter is like desktop gadgets, only more flexible and more powerful. It is free open source software and it enables you to add desktop widgets for Windows 10 and it also works on Windows 7 too.
It is hard to describe Rainmeter because displaying desktop gadgets is just one of its functions. It can actually take over the whole desktop and skin it.
Rainmeter skins provide the widgets that are displayed on the desktop and can also include desktop wallpaper that matches the graphical theme of the widgets. You may have only one skin in use, but there can be many skins installed and you can choose between them.
Here is a view of the Windows 10 desktop using Rainmeter widgets. Widgets come in many shapes and sizes and contain all manner of information and tools. This is just one possible desktop from hundreds:
Those widgets in the screenshot are collapsable and shrink to the tabs when you don’t want to see the information. They are also on the desktop and appear underneath any programs and windows that are running.
Install Rainmeter
Go to the Rainmeter website and download the program. Install it and then run it. It contains one skin with several example widgets. They display the time and date, system information such as the CPU, RAM and swap file usage, the amount of free space on each of the drives in the PC, and network information including upload and download speeds.
Each of these widgets can be shown or hidden, and dragged to any position on the desktop. The transparency can be set too. This is useful information to have on the desktop and it enables you to keep an eye on system resources.
These are just examples of widgets and there are many alternative ones in other skins that look and perform completely differently.
Customize desktop widgets
Right clicking a widget displays a menu that contains the current skin, Illustro in the screenshot above. The sub-menu contains a list of the skin’s widgets and selecting it toggles that widget on/off. The default skin has seven widgets
Right click a widget and select Manage or right click the icon in the taskbar (often hidden in that pop-up area).
The widgets are in the Active Skins column and selecting one shows some useful settings. Loading a widget shows it and unloading it hides it. The coordinates can be set to position it, the transparency can be set, and when the mouse hovers over it, it can do nothing, hide, fade in or fade out.
Widgets can be draggable or fixed, they can snap to the screen edges and you can click through them to what’s underneath.
That’s basically it. You just select and load the widgets you want on the desktop. If they don’t appear where you want, just click and drag them into position. The Layouts tab enables you to name and save the current desktop layout.
Where to get Rainmeter skins
Rainmeter skins containing widgets and graphics are available from several different websites and there are links to them at rainmeter.net/discover. For example, DeviantArt has a good collection of Rainmeter skins. On the right side of the page are some featured skins and a button to browse the folder. Featured skins are Skin of the month/season winners and are the best on the site.
There are many more skin collections and the links are on the Rainmeter Discover page on the website.
Skins can be distributed in two forms, a .zip file or a .rmskin file. A .rmskin file can be double clicked to install it. A zip file must be unzipped and the skin folder moved to Your Documents\Rainmeter\Skins folder. Quit and restart Rainmeter, then open the Manage window.
Unload the widgets from the old skin and load the ones in the new skin. You can even mix and match widgets from two or more skins.
Rainmeter is a good alternative to desktop gadgets and it pushes the idea much further than Microsoft ever went with it. What’s more, it works on versions of Windows, 7 up to 10.
Thank you for another essential article.