After widgets made their formal debut in Windows Vista and were pushed aside due to high resource consumption and limited utility, several projects decided to keep the concept alive with more complete and efficient options. One of those projects is Rainmeter, a true classic when it comes to customizing our desktop. Rainmeter has just entered version 4.0, and although technically it's a beta, it works wonderfully.
Personally, I've always tried to keep a prudent distance between widgets and my computer. When I first saw them in Windows Vista (officially called “Gadgets” there), I immediately knew they would be a problem, since that operating system had much more serious things to do than presenting a kind of speedometer reporting CPU usage. They're still available in Windows 7, but Microsoft declared them obsolete after the release of Windows 8, and with several published vulnerability reports (caused by third-party widgets), Microsoft's recommendation was nothing less than disabling the entire Gadgets section. Even so, if a widget is safe, efficient, accurate, and doesn't get in the user's way, it's not so bad to incorporate it into the desktop. The point is that today we need an external tool, and to be honest, Rainmeter is one of the best.
Rainmeter has just entered version 4.0 as a public beta. Those who prefer a stable version need not worry, as version 3.3 remains available on the official page, and in fact it's the last build compatible with Windows XP and Windows Vista. This compatibility break is because Rainmeter 4.0 incorporates new features through Direct2D and DirectWrite that only Windows 7 SP1 (with all its updates up to date) and later offer. Another detail to highlight about Rainmeter 4.0 is that it abandons support for virtual desktops (it can be restored with a plugin from the forums), and several of the plugins distributed with Rainmeter will finally be assimilated to achieve greater performance, as well as stability improvements.
That said, the number of skins available for Rainmeter is impressive, and once we master its basic concepts, customizing the desktop becomes a matter of a couple of clicks. Rainmeter allows installation in permanent or portable fashion, and regarding memory consumption, I've never seen it exceed 7.5 megabytes. Don't hesitate to try it.
