QAEM/DEV

Add widgets to your Windows desktop

Put a clock, the weather, CPU and GPU stats, media controls and more on your Windows 11 or 10 desktop with EdgeOS, free: on any monitor, behind your apps or on top.

Updated 17 Oct 2026

Windows 11's own widgets live in a panel you open from the taskbar. To keep a clock, the weather, your CPU and GPU load or what's playing on screen all the time, you need a desktop widget app. EdgeOS is a free one: you lay widgets out on any monitor, and they stay there.

Before you start

Install EdgeOS

Download EdgeOS

Download EdgeOS Setup.exe, or find it on the Downloads page. It's free, with no account.

Run the installer

Double-click EdgeOS Setup.exe. It installs EdgeOS for your Windows account, with no admin prompt, and starts it.

Go through the first-time setup

Pick a ready-made layout to start from. You can change every widget on it later.

Put EdgeOS on your monitor

Open Settings → Screens and switch on the monitor you want. For that monitor, choose:

  • Show: Desktop only keeps the widgets on your desktop, behind your apps. Always keeps them over every window.
  • Background: Dashboard gives the widgets a background of their own. Transparent shows your wallpaper between them, and clicks there reach your desktop.
  • Taskbar: show or hide the Windows taskbar on that monitor.

Free shows EdgeOS on one screen at a time. Premium runs it on all your monitors at once, each with its own layout.

Add widgets

Open the Layout page

The Widgets panel on the right lists every widget. Search for one, or pick a category such as Essentials or Monitoring.

Drag a widget onto your screen

Drag it where you want it, or press + to add it.

Make it yours

Open a widget's Customize to set its options: a clock's style and time zone, the weather's location, which PC stats a card shows. Every widget also takes your own font, text size and look.

Keep games smooth

Under Performance, EdgeOS can pause by itself while a game is full screen, while apps you choose are running, or when your CPU or GPU is busy, and carry on when you're done. These settings are free.

Go further

  • Profiles keep a layout for each moment. Free has one; Premium adds Gaming, Work, Streaming and your own, and can switch them by the app in front or the time of day.
  • Skins change the whole look in one file. See EdgeOS skins.
  • Your own widgets are a folder with a widget.json and an index.html. See Build your own EdgeOS widget.
  • Coming from Rainmeter? See EdgeOS vs Rainmeter. Premium can run your .rmskin skins too.