Wendy

Customizing your PC is most likely one of the first thing to do after a fresh install of Windows. This can be done through default means, but there’s a lot more variety to be found in specialized third-party apps like Rainmeter. Dedicated to this visual tweaker, Wendy comes with different elements for easy access of various offline, and online locations.

This isn’t really a stand-alone application, and completely relies on Rainmeter to function. In fact, it’s merely a custom skin designed to let you access different computer locations, and view system info. These can be selectively brought on the desktop, but most of them require configuration for proper assignment of locations.

To start off, there are four groups of elements, which might leave you scratching your head for a while. This is because there’s no name tag, but bringing them on the desktop reveals they’re merely launchers for various computer locations. Although similar in design, you land in a different folder for every item clicked on.

Unfortunately, the default configuration is rather poor, with most preset location inaccessible. It’s none of your fault, nor any compatibility issues, but rather a faulty path string written in the configuration file. It’s best to pay a visit to this INI file to customize locations.

A similar element sticks to the side of your screen, namely the sidebar element. It too can be programmed, and is also fitted with a poor configuration file.

Offline locations are not the only places you can visit. On the one hand, paths for launchers can consist of URLs, bringing up your web browser with those pages. On the other hand, the Google Bar component can be used to perform search operations directly from your desktop, with Google results shown in the default browser.

A few more elements are at your disposal, but these with little to no interaction options. Network incoming and outgoing packets can be analyzed through the Network component, while the System Info gadgets shows a real time updating graph for CPU, RAM, Trash, and uptime.

Taking everything into consideration, we can say that Wendy is a little underprepared as a whole, especially because of the poorly configured offline navigation locations. The visual design doesn’t stand out from the crowd, while the set is mostly composed of similar, but individual launchers which require heavy tweaking.