How To: Trick Out Your Desktop with Rainmeter

Types of Skins

Rainmeter skins fall into two main types: system info and information display. The closest thing to an input skin is a Notepad/To-Do List, which comes with many skins. I'll run down my particular skins for specific details.

The clock is located at the top. Below that is the CPU and memory meter. The inner circle lights up slowly as memory is consumed, filling counterclockwise, while the outer ring fills and expands clockwise as the CPU load increases. There is also a meter showing where there might be spikes in CPU use.

Below that is the C: and D: meters. As you can see, there are two halves to the inside circle. They flash during disk I/O, while the right half flashes during reads and the left half during writes. The outer ring is a reflection of the disk space consumed and there is both a percentage of free space and a numerical display.

Below that is the network meter, with the inner circle representing upload speeds and the outer ring representing download speeds, along with a meter showing recent activity. Below that is the wireless strength.

There are other system-monitoring tools available, and you can use third-party DLLs to call them for information as well. So you can use Motherboard Monitor 5 to keep an eye on system temperatures and fan speeds, which is something important for overclockers. The Rainmeter documentation will show you how to make calls to those DLLs.

Tom's Guide Staff

Tom's Guide upgrades your life by helping you decide what products to buy, finding the best deals and showing you how to get the most out of them and solving problems as they arise. Tom's Guide is here to help you accomplish your goals, find great products without the hassle, get the best deals, discover things others don’t want you to know and save time when problems arise. Visit the About Tom's Guide page for more information and to find out how we test products.

  • ssddx
    Sample Destop...Mine
    Hah! I see you use ObjectDock Plus! as well. Awsome program.

    This looks interesting; I will have to check it out. Is that circle in the bottom right a working calendar?
    Reply
  • house70
    Hey, tom's, how come we are still getting swamped with spam? Here's an idea: mark as spam any message that has more than 2 links in it and any message that has more than twice the symbol $ in it. That should help out for a while until you come up with even better filters.
    Reply
  • shoelessinsight
    I downloaded Rainmeter after reading this article and have been experimenting with it for a few hours. Though I am having a hard time getting reliable readings of my system temperatures and my current wireless bandwidth, most of the skins are surprisingly easy to customize.

    Thanks for the article! =)
    Reply
  • gdroland
    Awesome article. I've got alot of Rainmeter desktops setup over on DeviantArt.com / With all the files you need to create them on your own computer. Check them out and don't hesitate to ask in the comments if you have questions/difficulties.

    http://gdroland.deviantart.com/
    Reply
  • cosmie
    Which weather skin is being used on the sample desktop?
    Reply
  • ecnovaec
    I love your desktop! can you please tell us what clock/etc you are using??
    Reply
  • tgandy
    Cosmie,

    I use the Felix weather widget. It comes with the Rainmeter install.
    Reply
  • tgandy
    ssddxHah! I see you use ObjectDock Plus! as well. Awsome program.This looks interesting; I will have to check it out. Is that circle in the bottom right a working calendar?
    Yes it is. I've been on the computer at midnight and watched it update the day and date.
    Reply
  • scottman777
    I've also downloaded Rainmeter after reading your article - awesome! Where'd you get that calendar?
    Reply
  • scottman777
    n/m I found it! Thanks for the article!
    Reply