Tricks to get skin to show on Win 7 desktop?

[Godofbeer]

Greetings all - 1st day w/ Rainmeter. As a die-hard Lifehacker fan, I followed the link from yesterday's writeup.

Lot's of catching up to do, but one thing is driving me crazy is that the skin keeps disappearing on my Win 7 desktop. I can get it to reappear by fussing with minimizing/maximizing currently opened windows, but haven't quite figured out the master recipe.

I have read a bit on the isse (in this forum) about the fact that it's the Aero layer that's causing the issue, but haven't found a beginner's trick yet.

Here's what I've learned/tried so far:

- If I re-run the Rainmeter app, it loads a second instance of the skin, so that's no good.
- Tried using Autohotkey and the /rainmenter.exe !RainmeterRefresh command - did nothing.
- Have read something about adding "BANG" parameters to some of the ini files. This is a bit too advanced for me right now (day 1).

Is there an easy way for me to get the skin to show that makes Rainmenter useful for me as I'm learning more? I'm thinking along the lines of ... a hotkey, Rainmeter.exe command line parameter, or Win 7 trick. On the other hand, maybe the solution is to disable the Aero features of Win 7. Am willing to disable Aero, but thought I'd check in first to see if I'm missing something simple.

Thanks,

W.

[MattKing]

If you use "Show Desktop" shortcuts it will cause Rainmeter to actually be put behind the desktop (The desktop "window" is put on top of everything).

So when you want to see the desktop use win+m to minimize all other open applications, Rainmeter will not be minimized in this case. As well as this, right now the position of Rainmeter skins should not be set to "On Desktop" but to "Below" if you want it on the desktop (again, keeping in mind that you can't use "Show Desktop" shortcuts with this).

I hope this explains what you wanted to know.

- Matt

[sgtevmckay]

First to the forums

And yes absolutely..In regards to your question.
The simplest way is to go to the Rainmeter in systems tray and , one skin at a time. Hover over the skin identified, and you should get a submenu..In this submenu you will see a directory for "Position", from the position submenu you have a series of choices.
I would start with "Normal"
"Bottom is essentially the desktop in the Areo's environment.
If you place to desktop...Rainmeter actually appears below the Aero shell and you will have to retrieve it

[Godofbeer]

Thanks for the replies, but not quite what I'm looking for.

Mattking:
Only thing I didn't mention in my first post was that I get to the desktop using the Win 7 Aero peek method. I use the peek option to see the desktop and then click the peek button (name?) to hit the desktop if I see something I want to touch. Unfortunately that seems to go directly to the Aeroshell layer.

sgtevmckay:
The idea of right clicking the system tray app and selecting a theme is doable, but not the automated approach I was looking for. But who knows, maybe I can automate that in an Autohotkey macro or something.


Since posting, I have broadened my search to outside this forum and am picking up references to others having the same issue. If I strike gold, I'll reply back here with the solution.

Thanks again.

[MattKing]

Mattking:
Only thing I didn't mention in my first post was that I get to the desktop using the Win 7 Aero peek method. I use the peek option to see the desktop and then click the peek button (name?) to hit the desktop if I see something I want to touch. Unfortunately that seems to go directly to the Aeroshell layer.

Yes this is a problem, Rainmeter skins are shown using the peek, but pressing the button actually is the "Show Desktop" shortcut, essentially. As you said, I'm not sure if I'm off topic with this answer.

[Godofbeer]

**** Interim work-around

No luck in the actual fix, but have been able to devise a suitable work around for those of us who like the Aero peek functionality and want to get to the desktop without using the keyboard and without losing Rainmeter.

I have added additional functionality to my ever growing Autohotkey script to show the desktop if I do a LEFT-RIGHT button click. My mouse doesn't have extra buttons I can configure, so I'm limited to the the two main buttons and the wheel. And, in most cases, the wheel/middlebutton combo are already well configured for other useful purposes (scrolling, link opening, tab closing, etc.). Fortunately, the LEFT-RIGHT button combo is surprisingly intuitive.

This even works if the pointer is sitting on the Aero peek button!

The only caveat is that you should try to position the mouse pointer in a "dead" area before invoking the action on a webpage. Doesn't have to be way out side of the current window, just a wee bit left or right of an active link on a webpage. Until you get used to the action, there's a tendency to "hit" a link if it's highlighted.

Anyways, all you have to do is to add ONE line of code to an Autohotkey script, as follows:
~lButton & rButton::Send, #m ;shows desktop

For those interested, Autohotkey can be picked up for FREE at the link shown below. What a useful program, for this issue and many more.

http://www.autohotkey.com/

W.

[jsmorley]

It is a bit frustrating. Win+M is not really a perfect alternative, as it isn't a "toggle" like Win+D is and you have to use Win+Shift+M to restore the windows. So Win+D is really "peek" and Win+M is just "minimize all". For those of us who are more mouse oriented, Win+Shift+M is really a "stop everything, look down at the keyboard, use both hands" annoyance.

We'll just have to dig into this a bit more.

[MattKing]

It is a bit frustrating. Win+M is not really a perfect alternative, as it isn't a "toggle" like Win+D is and you have to use Win+Shift+M to restore the windows. So Win+D is really "peek" and Win+M is just "minimize all". For those of us who are more mouse oriented, Win+Shift+M is really a "stop everything, look down at the keyboard, use both hands" annoyance.

We'll just have to dig into this a bit more.

Again, when you use "Show Desktop" (Win+D) it is actually putting the Window for the desktop on top of all applications. The message can't be intercepted from what I've read about this. I am still looking into this as it bothers me quite a bit.