Display useful data with the network icon in the system tray(Windows Vista)

               Old Windows versions indicated information like the amount of data transferred in speech bubble, when the cursor hovered over the network icon. Windows 7 indicates only whether an Internet connection exists.

               You can substitute for the lack of information with the free tool ‘Network Activity indicator’ from www.itsamples.com. Click the link ‘download self-install executable with uninstall support on the page, install the program and run it. Windows 7 will automatically hide the application icon, which shows two terminals blinking. Therefore, you can click the arrow in the notification area and follow the link ’Customize’. Look in the list for ‘Network Activity Indicator’. In the adjacent menu, change the setting to ‘Show icon and notification’. If you would still like to hide unused icons in Windows, change the setting to ‘Show only notifications’ and confirm with ‘OK’.
               The blinking icon now provides detailed information about network traffic. If you hover the cursor over it, the tool tip shows the total amount of data sent and received. For example, you can see how much data is being transferred, or monitor the progress of a large upload or download.
                Right click on the icon in order to query detailed data like ‘Network Statistics’ or ‘Network Traffic’ for individual connections. In addition you can jump to the ‘Network and Sharing Center’ or the status of the LAN connection to the router to access important system dialogue boxes.