General Help Needed - Configuring

[fredramsey]

OK, due to the nature of my questions, I need to state something first:

I'm a programmer. Been working with PCs since DOS. I am perfect capable of figuring out complex things.

That out of the way, I downloaded Rainmeter because it looked like a very cool tool and wanted to have some of the cool desktop options I've seen around. But when I installed it, and downloaded the APB? skin, it had 24 hour time, I couldn't close some of the configuration windows, etc., etc. Started poking around and found arcane config files.

Has anyone made this thing more plug-n-play? I just really don't want to spend a huge amount of time getting this thing to work.

So, bring on the flames

But if anyone can point me in the direction of a simple guide to getting this to work, I'd appreciate it.

[jsmorley]

Well, I would start here: http://rainmeter.net/cms/Rainmeter101

Then my advice is always to find some skin you like (the illustro skins that come with Rainmeter are a good start, as they are designed to be relatively simple and accessible.) and tear it apart, change how it looks / works and make it your own. That is how I learned, and it only took a day or two and I was hooked...

Rainmeter does take a day or so of messing with to wrap your head around, and (this is not a flame in any way) if someone expects Windows Sidebar or Google Gadgets level of ease of use, it may not be the right tool for them. It's more like a blank canvas and all the paints and brushes, not so much like paint-by-numbers.

I don't want to lead you down the primrose path. Yes, it is those arcane config files that are the key to things.

Welcome aboard in any case. Put just a little bit into Rainmeter and you may be surprised how much fun it is to really "own" what is on your desktop.