Is there an Internet traffic indicator in Win7?

I have a laptop with XP and a wireless connection to my router, and it
has an icon in the taskbar that shows when there is Internet traffic.
I also have a desktop with Windows 7, and a very similar Internet
connection, except that this one is not built-in, but uses a Netgear
USB/Wireless adapter. The icon in the taskbar shows signal strength,
but not traffic flow.
Is there a setting somewhere that I can enable to show when there is
traffic flowing?

"Renny Bosch" <> wrote in message
news:irgumf$fe1$...
>I have a laptop with XP and a wireless connection to my router, and it has
>an icon in the taskbar that shows when there is Internet traffic.
> I also have a desktop with Windows 7, and a very similar Internet
> connection, except that this one is not built-in, but uses a Netgear
> USB/Wireless adapter. The icon in the taskbar shows signal strength, but
> not traffic flow.
> Is there a setting somewhere that I can enable to show when there is
> traffic flowing?

You can use something like LanLights:

http://www.paulmather.net/lanlight.asp

--
SC Tom

On Tue, 24 May 2011 11:50:46 -0700, Renny Bosch
<> wrote:

>I have a laptop with XP and a wireless connection to my router, and it
>has an icon in the taskbar that shows when there is Internet traffic.
>I also have a desktop with Windows 7, and a very similar Internet
>connection, except that this one is not built-in, but uses a Netgear
>USB/Wireless adapter. The icon in the taskbar shows signal strength,
>but not traffic flow.
>Is there a setting somewhere that I can enable to show when there is
>traffic flowing?

If you are talking about seeing YOUR traffic in and out of your system
there is a "network meter" gadget you can put on the Sidebar (or
whatever Win7 calls it, maybe gadget bar).

On 5/24/2011 12:35 PM, SC Tom wrote:
>
> "Renny Bosch" <> wrote in message
> news:irgumf$fe1$...
>> I have a laptop with XP and a wireless connection to my router, and
>> it has an icon in the taskbar that shows when there is Internet traffic.
>> I also have a desktop with Windows 7, and a very similar Internet
>> connection, except that this one is not built-in, but uses a Netgear
>> USB/Wireless adapter. The icon in the taskbar shows signal strength,
>> but not traffic flow.
>> Is there a setting somewhere that I can enable to show when there is
>> traffic flowing?
>
> You can use something like LanLights:
>
> http://www.paulmather.net/lanlight.asp
>
As far as I recall, I did not have to download anything special on XP to
get the little icon that changes color when there is Internet traffic.
Is that an XP feature that they droppped in Win7?

The XP is a mini-hp that came with XP preloaded, and with a wireless
Internet adapter included; I don't know who the adapter's manufacturer
was. The Win7 machine is an hp Pavilion that came with Win7 but without
a wireless adapter; I bought the Netgear adapter and installed it from
the CD that came with it. Is the icon part of the driver rather than
part on the system's user interface?

LanLights gives a whole lot more than what I am looking for. I just
want to know if data is currently coming in from the Internet, typically
when the system is slow and I want to know why.

"Renny Bosch" <> wrote in message
news:irho5s$efh$...
> On 5/24/2011 12:35 PM, SC Tom wrote:
>>
>> "Renny Bosch" <> wrote in message
>> news:irgumf$fe1$...
>>> I have a laptop with XP and a wireless connection to my router, and it
>>> has an icon in the taskbar that shows when there is Internet traffic.
>>> I also have a desktop with Windows 7, and a very similar Internet
>>> connection, except that this one is not built-in, but uses a Netgear
>>> USB/Wireless adapter. The icon in the taskbar shows signal strength,
>>> but not traffic flow.
>>> Is there a setting somewhere that I can enable to show when there is
>>> traffic flowing?
>>
>> You can use something like LanLights:
>>
>> http://www.paulmather.net/lanlight.asp
>>
> As far as I recall, I did not have to download anything special on XP to
> get the little icon that changes color when there is Internet traffic. Is
> that an XP feature that they droppped in Win7?
>
> The XP is a mini-hp that came with XP preloaded, and with a wireless
> Internet adapter included; I don't know who the adapter's manufacturer
> was. The Win7 machine is an hp Pavilion that came with Win7 but without a
> wireless adapter; I bought the Netgear adapter and installed it from the
> CD that came with it. Is the icon part of the driver rather than part on
> the system's user interface?
>
> LanLights gives a whole lot more than what I am looking for. I just want
> to know if data is currently coming in from the Internet, typically when
> the system is slow and I want to know why.
>

The icon in Vista and earlier versions wasn't a static display like it is in
Win7 (or I don't remember Vista's as being static- maybe it was, too).
You can have LanLights start up minimized to the system tray area with just
the lights. You can also pick the blue colors and it looks just like the XP
icon, or if you're feeling adventurous, you can put custom icons in to show
the different states. The other info is there if and when you need it, but
doesn't have to be displayed all the time.

You can look in device manager to find out what your wireless is. I haven't
had a Netgear adapter in a number of years, but I thought there was a
monitoring program that came with the software that displayed the traffic
icon. Of course, that was before Win7 or Vista, so things may have changed.
--
SC Tom

Renny Bosch wrote:
> I have a laptop with XP and a wireless connection to my router, and it
> has an icon in the taskbar that shows when there is Internet traffic.
> I also have a desktop with Windows 7, and a very similar Internet
> connection, except that this one is not built-in, but uses a Netgear
> USB/Wireless adapter. The icon in the taskbar shows signal strength,
> but not traffic flow.
> Is there a setting somewhere that I can enable to show when there is
> traffic flowing?

Win 7 and Vista did away with that neat little task bar thing.
You will have to get a third party one.
Search for this: "Network Activity Indicator for Windows 7"
Its a nice little prog and I have it on my win 7 laptop,
at least until I wipe win7 soon and replace it with xp3.

On 5/24/2011 2:50 PM, Renny Bosch wrote:
> I have a laptop with XP and a wireless connection to my router, and it
> has an icon in the taskbar that shows when there is Internet traffic.
> I also have a desktop with Windows 7, and a very similar Internet
> connection, except that this one is not built-in, but uses a Netgear
> USB/Wireless adapter. The icon in the taskbar shows signal strength, but
> not traffic flow.
> Is there a setting somewhere that I can enable to show when there is
> traffic flowing?

I just go to Network and Sharing, go to the active Internet connection,
and double-click it, which shows the bytes sent and received will the
connection is active.

On 24/05/2011 19:50, Renny Bosch wrote:
> I have a laptop with XP and a wireless connection to my router, and it
> has an icon in the taskbar that shows when there is Internet traffic.
> I also have a desktop with Windows 7, and a very similar Internet
> connection, except that this one is not built-in, but uses a Netgear
> USB/Wireless adapter. The icon in the taskbar shows signal strength,
> but not traffic flow.
> Is there a setting somewhere that I can enable to show when there is
> traffic flowing?

The monitor I use for XP does not work in Win7x64. For that use
BitMeter, which is a reasonable substitute. You can either use this in
minimalist form in the notification area, or float a more detailed
window anywhere you like.

--

Jeff

The icon in Vista and earlier versions wasn't a static display like it is in
Win7 (or I don't remember Vista's as being static- maybe it was, too).

Vista let you turn on network icon animation but it was just a random
flashing of the icon; it wasn't in sync with any data transmission.
Why? Who knows? It's as if the folks at MS really didn't have a clue
why we need a dynamic display. They thought we just like flashing icons.

Tom Lake

On 24/05/2011 19:50, Renny Bosch wrote:
> I have a laptop with XP and a wireless connection to my router, and it
> has an icon in the taskbar that shows when there is Internet traffic.
> I also have a desktop with Windows 7, and a very similar Internet
> connection, except that this one is not built-in, but uses a Netgear
> USB/Wireless adapter. The icon in the taskbar shows signal strength, but
> not traffic flow.
> Is there a setting somewhere that I can enable to show when there is
> traffic flowing?
I've used A little utility called DUMeter for many years - served me
well for monitoring connectivity, speed etc.