Rainmeter
Wayne Williams misses Windows 7’s widgets, so he uses this program to bring similar tools back to his Windows 10 desktop
Windows 10’s Personalisation settings let you replace your wallpaper, choose between light and dark mode, turn transparency effects on or off, and select a new colour scheme. That’s not a bad range of options, but it isn’t enough for me. Remember the desktop widgets in Windows 7? I loved those, and I miss them in Windows 10. But I’ve found a way to recreate them using the excellent Rainmeter ( www. rainmeter.net), which brings a modern version of widgets (which it calls ‘skins’) to my desktop.
When you first run the program, it displays a simple set of skins called ‘illustro’ that includes a ‘getting started’ widget. This contains a clock, a calendar and system and hard-drive information. To customise this skin, right-click any widget, then click ‘illustro’ and you can turn items on or off. Some skins have more than one design, which you can switch between by selecting Variants in the right-click menu. You can also change a widget’s position, transparency and behaviour.
I like to customise Rainmeter by clicking its icon in the notification area to access the Manage Skin menu. This opens a separate window where you can load and unload skins, and refresh them if they freeze or don’t update. You can also adjust the transparency of each skin and set a load order so your favourites appear first. Once you’ve arranged your skins as you want them, save their positions in the Layout tab. I find the ‘Game mode’ tab particularly useful, because it unloads all skins – freeing up memory – when it detects that you’re doing something intensive such as playing a game or editing videos.
Ilustro is a great place to start, but visit www.rainmeter.net/discover for skins made by other Rainmeter fans. However, my favourite are at Deviantart ( www. deviantart.com/rainmeter). You’ll need to sign up for a free Deviantart account before you can download anything.
When I find a creation I like, I click its download button and unzip the contents to my desktop. Double-click the *.rmskin file (if there is one) to open it in the Rainmeter Skin Installer, then click Install. Not all skins include an installer. For those, I right-click an existing skin and go to Rainmeter, Skins, Open Folder. I drag the folder here from my unzipped download, then right-click any widget and select Refresh Skin. To access the new skin, I right-click and choose Rainmeter, Skins. Hover over the skin collection, then an item in it and click the *.ini entry to launch it.
I can turn skins on and off in the Manage Skin window (I like to mix and match skins from different packs). If I need to make more precise changes to an item or change a folder location (to point a photo widget to my photos, for example), I right-click it and go to Edit Skin. This opens a configuration file in Notepad, where I make my changes before saving and closing the file.
My current skin pack is Glasses by Vclouds ( www.snipca.com/39323 – see screenshot). I have the clock 1 and system information 2 on the left, and my news feed 3 and music player 4 on the right. I’ve linked the player to itunes, where I keep my music, although it supports other services such as Winamp. I set the countdown widget 5 to different events, depending on the time of year. At the moment it’s set to Christmas, because hopefully this year - unlike 2020 - we’ll have a big family celebration. My daughter Elena - the real star of my desktop - is already preparing her ‘Dear Santa’ list.