Rainmeter Forums

Hello everyone,

Rite guys please bare with me because i am new to Rainmeter and the whole platform it works on that's why i am here to get some info from you guys. I have been using Windows for many years and and have grown accustom to it, but i am wanting something a little different to use daily. First off i started looking for different Windows themes and that is how i stumbled across this site. I have been reading that it is a platform that sits on top of your Windows platform changing the layout (which looks cool) and also everyday usage. What i would like to know from you guys what is the main function of this software and what can i do with it?? Id the software for sale or is it freeware?

Any information would be greatly appreciated guys
Looking forward to speaking to you all



Thanks guys

After a lot of work with Rainmeter, I can say that your imagination will limit what you can do. It's great piece of software and here on this forum you'll find great and helpful people, who will help you on your work, if you'll have questions.
But returning to your question, you can create so called skins, to see the CPU loading, free and occupied space of your hard disk, weather forecast, time and date, the number of unread / read emails in your account, temperature of your CPU and so on. As I said, your imagination (and obviously your knowledge) will limit what you can do.
And Rainmeter is still developing...

Just to follow up on balala's excellent answer:

I see Rainmeter as a way to put what you might consider "widgets" or "gadgets" on your desktop. As noted, you can have these monitor system or network information, get your weather or unread emails count, show information from RSS feeds or web sites, and more. In addition, there are lots of way to "interact" with your skins, so you can create launchers or docks to open folders, execute applications, or launch web sites in your default browser.

What Rainmeter is not, what it doesn't do, is change your Windows OS or the behavior of the Windows desktop "shell" in any way. It's not a replacement for anything like the Taskbar, Notification Area, Action Center, Windows Explorer, or any other core functionality in Windows.

Rainmeter skins have no default appearance or behavior. It is up to you, and your creativity, how skins look and work. You create them from scratch. Where they are, how they look, and what they do. I prefer to think of it as a "toolkit" as much as an "application.

Best place to start is here:

https://docs.rainmeter.net/manual/getting-started/

Thanks for the reply's guys,

How much strain does this software have on you PC?? I understand the more creative you get the bigger strain but as a rough guide? Also thanks for the links to the Getting started and Development pages guys, i will have a look through them now.

I have just had a quick tutorial on YouTube an it looks awesome.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pde4EMG5JXU
I am going to hit the research hard and gives me something to play with.