It’s time for another desktop application. In our trend of providing free and/or better alternatives to well-known software, I present Rainmeter.

Rainmeter is what the weird little gadget things on your Windows 7 (or Vista, I suppose, although hopefully not) desktop should have been. Not only is Rainmeter prettier, more customizable, and more developed, but also it doesn’t consume all of your system resources or crash randomly.

The awesome thing about Rainmeter, though, is this: due to a heavy, almost cultish user following, there are a ridiculous number of ways to use it. You can put a little clock on your desktop. Or your media player. Or your weather. Or you can go crazy and do this. It’s all up to you, and it’s beautiful, productive, and practical.

Get Rainmeter here for Windows XP, Vista, 7 and 8.