Today we are going to talk about rain. Not the conventional kind mind you, but the technological sort.
RainMeter
The gadgets you see in the above screenshot is the result of a fantastic program called Rainmeter. Rainmeter is a desktop customization tool for Windows designed to let you add cool and useful tools and designs for your desktop. It is reminiscent of the gadgets feature from Windows Vista, but far better. You have probably seem streamers like Cryaotic use this tool, and its definitely something that adds an extra oomph to your desktop experience.
I like Rainmeter because on top of adding customization options, I can have actual uses for it. I have a GPU Meter for monitoring the state and temperature of my graphics card; weather at a quick glance; CPU, RAM, and CPU Temp meters for additional monitoring, and other gadgets. As you can see, I really like data a lot. You don’t need to do any of this though, you can simply just add a nice time clock and music bars if you wish, and thats it. The possibilities are endless.
Installation and Skins
To install Rainmeter, download the latest release here. Its a straightforward installation process that shouldn’t pose any problems. The real meat of this program will be choosing the skin you’d like to go along with it!
Skins can either come in .zip or .rmskin packages. If the skin comes in an .rmskin package, the installation is simply double click and install. If its in a .zip however, it will take slightly more work.
Rainmeter skins are usually installed in the corresponding documents folder, such as “E:\David\Documents\Rainmeter\Skins.” Simply extract your .zip package in this folder and restart Rainmeter, and activate the skin. Many of the skins have varying customization options, and you’ll have to consult the corresponding skin maker in order to make use of those options.
As far as finding skins go, deviantart has a massive repository of rainmeter skins, but they can also be found on reddit and on rainmeter.net itself. Consult here and poke around for skins.
Here are the skins I am using as referenced by the above screenshot if you are interested in those:
By right clicking the rainmeter icon in the notification area, you can manage rainmeter and see all your skins, and load them accordingly. You can even mix and match if you like.
If you have some time to poke around and you enjoy desktop customization, give Rainmeter a shot.