Rainmeter enables users to add and display a plethora of skins on the desktop for example clocks, CPU load, RSS feeds, network usage and much more. You can add customizable shortcuts to installed applications and folders. The best way to begin using Rainmeter is to first install it and then worry about customizing the skins.

Lets start by beginning your install. You have a choice of downloading a stable or release candidate version of Rainmeter. Personally I am using the 1.2 R430 64bit version on Windows 7 with no problems to date.

1. After installation, you’ll see the Enigma Home menu.

This panel will allow you to gain access to Instructions, Skin Manager, Theme Manager, and Configuration. This panel can be accessed at anytime by double-clicking on Rainmeter’s Sidebars located at the sides of the screen or Taskbar at the top and/or bottom.

Clicking on Instructions will open the PDF help file. This should be your primer on Rainmeter, please read & familiarize yourself with the instructions.

Next we have Skins which will use Rainmeter’s built-in skin manager to browse, load, organize and edit your library of skins.

Clicking on the Theme icon in the Home menu will allow you use Rainmeter’s Theme Manager to save and load your setups, or load a prearranged template. Very handy as there is nothing more frustrating than getting your desktop just right and forgetting to save it.

Next we have the Configuration icon which will enable you to set or change your personal settings for Enigma, including colors, Google login details and weather code. Enter your settings and remember to click Set as you complete each item. Once finished don’t forget to save the settings.

This information concludes the initial phase for this Rainmeter tutorial. Explore and remember to save your theme when you have it the way you want it. Move items around, change transparencies, show/hide any element or edit the skins as nothing you will do will hurt the program or you. See you soon.