Is there an Internet traffic indicator in Win7?

[Renny Bosch]

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?

 

[SC Tom]

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

 

[Ashton Crusher]

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).

 

[Renny Bosch]

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.

 

[SC Tom]

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.

 

[Paul in Houston TX]

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.

 

[Big Steel]

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.

 

[Jeff Layman]

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.

 

[Tom Lake]

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

 

[Kev]

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.

 

[Char Jackson]

I've used A little utility called DUMeter for many years - served me
well for monitoring connectivity, speed etc.

DUMeter is an excellent little utility. I used it for quite a few
years, until I needed something that could monitor multiple interfaces
simultaneously. At the time, DUMeter wasn't able to do that, but maybe
it can by now.

<www.dumeter.com>

 

[Alex Clayton]

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.

I have been using this since Zone alarm quit working many years ago. One
of the things I liked about ZA was the traffic meter that came with it.
I like to know if there is traffic so if I am trying to load something I
can tell if it has for some reason stopped. Bitmeter does seem to have
some minor problem with 64 bit Win-7 but it seems to be no big deal. On
every Win-7 64 I put it on it gives a pop up at shut down saying it did
not start right and wants you to click the message to close it. I
usually do just to speed things up but the machines still seems to shut
down on its own if you ignore it.

--
I met a Genie today that said she would grant me one wish.

"I want to live forever," I said.

"Sorry," said the Genie, "I'm not allowed to grant wishes like that!"

"Fine," I said, "then I want to die after Congress gets their heads out
of their a$$e$!"

"You crafty bastard," said the Genie.

 

[Larry]

"Kev" wrote in message

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.

There is an excellent utility for Win 7 that replaces the 2 little flashing
traffic monitors in the system tray. Works very well. Get it here:
http://www.itsamples.com/network-activity-indicator.html

Larry

 

[The Seabat]

There is a gadget for Windows 7 called, Xirrus Wi-Fi Monitor that
might be what you are looking for.

 

[Renny Bosch]

"Kev" wrote in message



There is an excellent utility for Win 7 that replaces the 2 little
flashing traffic monitors in the system tray. Works very well. Get
it here:
http://www.itsamples.com/network-activity-indicator.html

Larry

Thank you all for your suggestions. I chose to go with Network Activity
Indicator from itsamples.com. It's exactly what I was looking for.

 

[Jeff Layman]

I have been using this since Zone alarm quit working many years ago. One
of the things I liked about ZA was the traffic meter that came with it.
I like to know if there is traffic so if I am trying to load something I
can tell if it has for some reason stopped. Bitmeter does seem to have
some minor problem with 64 bit Win-7 but it seems to be no big deal. On
every Win-7 64 I put it on it gives a pop up at shut down saying it did
not start right and wants you to click the message to close it. I
usually do just to speed things up but the machines still seems to shut
down on its own if you ignore it.

Never seen that at shutdown on this machine.

I view BitMeter continuously in a small window at the bottom right of
the screen so I can see what is going on. It is "always on top", but
very occasionally it disappears - perhaps something else steals focus.
It is soon restored viia the icon in the notification area.

 

[Anthony Buckland]

...
I have been using this since Zone alarm quit working many years ago. ...

I just started using Win 7 a few weeks ago. One of the
first things I did was install Zone Alarm (version
9.3.014.000), and it isn't giving me any trouble,
so I'm not sure what you mean by "quit working."
Agreed, though, I can't, on a quick dive into its help
facility, find any way of monitoring traffic within it,
internet or local.

 

[Anthony Buckland]

I just started using Win 7 a few weeks ago. One of the
first things I did was install Zone Alarm (version
9.3.014.000), and it isn't giving me any trouble,
so I'm not sure what you mean by "quit working."
Agreed, though, I can't, on a quick dive into its help
facility, find any way of monitoring traffic within it,
internet or local.

However, to get to the main question, open Windows Task
Manager and click on the Networking tab. To open the
Task Manager, right click on the taskbar and click on
Start Task Manager.

 

[Alex Clayton]

Never seen that at shutdown on this machine.

I view BitMeter continuously in a small window at the bottom right of
the screen so I can see what is going on. It is "always on top", but
very occasionally it disappears - perhaps something else steals focus.
It is soon restored viia the icon in the notification area.

It’s never been a problem so I never bothered to look into it. My first
W-7 had been doing it for so long I never paid any attention to it any
more. When I shut down I get a pop up saying something like app failed
to start properly and some letters and numbers with the “x” to close it.
The machine shuts down on its own so I never much cared. I had no idea
what was doing it. Since that was a Vista that was up-graded to W-7 and
I had to format and re-install everything after Dells “help” people
FUBAR’s it, I just figured something had happened then. I just ignored
it. Then when I got a couple more W-7 machines I found they started
doing the same thing as soon as I installed Bit meter. After that I
tried deleting it from one of them and the pop up goes away. Since it
seems to have no ill effects I never cared. The little meter sits in the
right corner of the tray and works so the pop up does not bother me.

 

[Alex Clayton]

I just started using Win 7 a few weeks ago. One of the
first things I did was install Zone Alarm (version
9.3.014.000), and it isn't giving me any trouble,
so I'm not sure what you mean by "quit working."
Agreed, though, I can't, on a quick dive into its help
facility, find any way of monitoring traffic within it,
internet or local.

It has been a very long time ago now so they may have fixed it. I used
the ZA firewall for many years. The first time it screwed up was back
during the XP days. Got up one day and could not get online. Had a hell
of a time finding out what was wrong. Then I found an article about how
MS had just released a new update and it was not playing well with ZA. I
turned off ZA and all was fine. ZA soon fixed that one, but then when
Vista came out the same thing happened again so I just gave up. When I
got my first W-7 I tried it again and this time got all kinds of trouble
with it right off the bat. I can’t remember now if it was because of the
new (at that time) 64 bit system or what, but I did not feel like
fighting it. Since I have not used it for quite a while they may have
changed it but it used to have a built in traffic meter. When you
installed ZA it would put itself in the tray. Looked a lot like the try
icon for bitmeter. Red and green bars one showing traffic out and one
traffic in. I had originally only tried ZA because I had read that the
firewall that comes with Windows was pretty worthless. The traffic meter
was just a nice added little bonus.

--

Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is
beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the
wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.
--Dave Barry