BitMeter

Viewing the download and upload speeds with basic Windows tools is not a comfortable experience. With an unrestricted broadband Internet connection, these statistics are not very important, but it is a different story if the traffic is restricted by the ISP. If you need to keep an eye on your bandwidth usage, BitMeter can help you. It displays your current download and upload speeds at all times and it places a wide range of useful tools at your disposal. The application can help you avoid overusing your bandwidth, gather various statistics and make a series of calculations.

BitMeter is offered completely free of charge, without any kind of limitations or hidden fees. It works on Windows 2000 and all later editions and it can be installed almost instantly, with only two clicks. The application doesn't ask for any additional tools and you can run it even on older machines, due to its modest hardware requirements.

When launched, BitMeter will display your current download and upload speeds, in real time, on a small floating window. The window is transparent and it can be moved anywhere on the screen. You can also enable a "click through" feature, if you wish to click on your desktop without affecting the window. Right clicking the floating window or the application's system tray icon will reveal a large number of options for all the included tools.

You can view the same download and upload statistics for the last few hours, days or months, on a small window. The total numbers of these statistics can be viewed for the same periods, on a tabbed window. Besides displaying information, BitMeter can also display warnings if you overuse your bandwidth. The application allows you to restrict your traffic to a total amount of data. The restrictions can be applied to the total traffic or only to downloads. Additionally, you can set the application to warn you if you reach a certain percentage of your quota.

It is also possible to set up speed and volume alerts. Depending on your personal settings, the application will display a message on the floating window and it will play a sound of your choice, when your downloads or uploads exceed a certain limit, in a given time period. Volume alerts can be configured in a similar manner, but they will be triggered if you download or upload a certain amount of data, regardless of the time frame.

The application's calculator is another useful feature, especially if you intend to download a large amount of data. It can help you figure out how much data you can download in a certain amount of time, with a given speed. Alternatively, you can calculate how long it would take to download a specific amount of data, with a certain speed.