Software update: Rainmeter 4.0 r2618 beta

A new beta release of Rainmeter version 4.0 has been released. This program can display all kinds of useful, but also less meaningful information on the desktop in real time, such as free hard drive space, network activity and whether there is new e-mail. Functional applets can also be used to, for example, make notes or send tweets. In version 4.0, support for Windows XP and Vista has been discontinued. Furthermore, to improve performance and security, most external plugins will be replaced by internal variants called measures.

Rain gauge 4.0
The following are the changes for the 4.0 beta version of Rainmeter. You can safely install the new 4.0 beta version right over top of your existing Rainmeter 3.3 or earlier installation, and nothing you have done will be lost or changed. There is never any need to uninstall any earlier version of Rainmeter to use the newest version.

Important change to Rainmeter 4.0
Due to future application improvements we intend, which will require the latest version of the Direct2D / DirectWrite graphical engines:
As of Rainmeter 4.0, Windows XP and Windows Vista are no longer supported by the application.
Rainmeter 4.0 requires at least Windows 7 with Service Pack 1 and the Platform Update applied. These should have been automatically applied several years ago by Windows Update, but if you have Windows Update turned off you may need to get and apply these updates manually. Windows versions later than Windows 7 are fully supported.
If you are on Windows XP or Windows Vista, and can’t or don’t wish to upgrade, you will need to stay on the 3.3 Release version of Rainmeter.

Changes in Rainmeter beta 4.0
For some stability and performance reasons, we are in the process of changing most or all of the plugins that are distributed with the Rainmeter installation from being external “plugins” to being internal “measures”. At this time, there is no need to change anything in your skin code, but do be aware that discrete .dll files for these plugins will no longer exist in your Rainmeter Plugins folder. As of this writing, the following plugins have been turned into measures:

• NowPlaying
• MediaKey
• RecycleManager
• WebParser

Revision 2618

• Fixed String meter: Corrected an issue where the position of an inline Gradient could be incorrect when an inline Shadow was also used on the meter.

Revision 2617

• Added String meter: Added shadow InlineSetting type to String meter Inline options. This will allow you to add a drop shadow to all or part of a string.

Revision 2613

• Fixed String meter: Corrected an issue where ClipString=1 was not working correctly if W (width) was defined without defining H (height).
• Added WebParser: Added UserAgent option to allow setting a custom User Agent String on a WebParser parent measure.
• Added WebParser: Added Header1, Header2, Header3… option to allow setting custom HTTP Header Fields on a WebParser parent measure.

  Note: If you are not sure what User Agent String or HTTP Header Fields are or whether or not you need them, then you don’t…