Helpful tips on using our new Millennium gadgets

[The Old Man]

Welcome to a pinned topic containing guidance and tips on the easy installation and use of our Millennium Gadgets, which require the excellent Rainmeter program to be installed first.

How to install our Millennium Gadgets

1. Firstly, ensure you have Rainmeter installed and running on your Windows computer. When asked, be sure to let Rainmeter start with Windows, so your favourite gadgets appear when you start your computer. You can download it for free from https://www.rainmeter.net/
2. Widgets or gadgets in Rainmeter are called Skins.
3. When first installed, Rainmeter automatically shows you a 'welcome message' Skin which you can get rid of. This is part of the Illustro range of pre-supplied Skins which you can also enable and use at any time. You can disable it (called Unloading) or any other skin you don't like or want, simply by right-clicking on the Skin and selecting the Unload option.
4. Download and install our Millennium gadgets. The default gadget should then open using Rainmeter.
5. Drag and drop it where you want it to live on your desktop and when ready click on the various features to personalise them where available, such as countdown timers and name personalisation.
6. Some but not all Skins have different variations called Variants, such as a different style or animated design.
7. If you should happen to break any widgets especially if you have explored some of the advanced Rainmeter settings and got confused, simply reinstall the widget you already downloaded, and it will completely re-install from scratch and work as normal.
    

Making Use of the Right Click Menu

Unloading a Gadget (or 'Skin')

To deactivate a 'skin', you Unload it. There are 2 ways to Load or Unload a skin, either via right clicking on the skin, or using the full Manager control panel.

In the screenshot below, to close off this Pumpkin-style gadget or Skin, we right-click on it and choose Unload Skin from the menu. Rainmeter normally remembers where it was, so if you reload it in the future, it will appear in the same place.

 

Loading a Gadget (or 'Skin')

There are 2 ways to Load or Unload a skin, either via right clicking on the skin, or using the full Manager control panel.

To quickly load another gadget or any other 'Skin' if you already have one open, right click on any skin, then choose which you want to Load from the list.

In the example screenshot below, we have the Frank Black Countdown skin (gadget) already loaded, but we want to add say, a Halloween-themed skin called HalloweenPumpkinCountDown. As we work through the M-TIWWA group of gadgets, we see the list of available gadgets, and then see the HalloweenPumpkin has 2 variations (called Variants), an animated version and a static version. We simply choose the one we want and it will open:-

 

Variants

Right-clicking on any Skin will bring up a menu. This example shown below is a single variation Skin, so under Variants there is only the 1 option, in this case the FrankBlack.ini. (An ini file is the configuration file for the skin, every skin has one):-

This Pumpkin-style skin shown below has 2 variations or Variants, so you can choose which you prefer and swap between them at any time using the Right Click menu (only one style is visible at any one time):-

 

Using more than one gadget

You can use as many Skins or gadgets as you like with Rainmeter, most modern computers should have no problem displaying several at once. Our M-TIWWA gadgets come with several and more will be added in the future.

 

Using the Rainmeter Manager control panel

Rainmeter has a control panel called Manager where you can see which skins you have installed, which are Loaded (being displayed), and which are Unload (not displayed).

You can get to the main Manager window either by double-clicking the raindrop icon for Rainmeter on your Windows taskbar by your clock, or by right-clicking on any open skin and then choosing the Rainmeter > Manage option.

 

The Manager first shows the Skins tab, which shows you a list of skins you have installed and which are loaded or unloaded. To quickly Load a skin, double click on it from the list or select it to read more about it and then use the Load button.

Unless you really know what you are doing, I would recommend leaving the other settings alone as per the screenshot above!

 

Saving your favourite layouts with Manager using the Layouts tab

The Layouts tab is useful, you can save a Layout (as many as you like with different names) which will save the positions of your favourite gadgets as per the screenshot below:-

You can also Unload any skin from the Manager as per below:-

[The Old Man]

Hi folks,

I've prepared this little extra guide above for anyone interested in trying our new Millennium-themed gadgets for Rainmeter. The current gadget is the first one I uploaded which is the Frank Black Countdown, but I've now created several gadgets and they are packaged together, so you can choose the ones you like,

The new gadget pack includes all of the old favourites converted to work on Rainmeter including Lucy Butler and the Halloween-themed count downs including the animated version I did together with Ethsnafu, and some brand new ones including the Owls version of the Ouroborus, and a new rotating Ouroborus!