By Damien for MakeTechEasier.com
You shouldn’t be bothered about your Internet usage if you are on an unlimited data plan. However, for those who are on limited plan, tracking your Internet usage could make a difference between saving or wasting few hundreds dollars of Internet bill. In addition, some ISPs do restrict your account if they think you have utilized too much of the bandwidth, so it would be helpful to find out how much bandwidth you have utilized as you surf the web.
Windows 7 doesn’t come with a native application for you to track your Internet usage, but there are several useful and lightweight third-party apps that can easily get the job done.
1. NetStat Live
NetStat Live (NSL) is a small, easy to use TCP/IP protocol monitor which records all incoming and outgoing traffic (the bandwidth, not the data) and lets you see the exact throughput on both incoming and outgoing data. To put it simply, it measures your Internet usage and display them in a easy to read format.
If you noticed, NetStats Live is more than just a bandwidth monitor. It also tracks your CPU usage and show you how quickly your data goes from your computer to another computer on the Internet. So if your Internet connection is slow, you can find out which point of connection is slowing down the data transmission.
2. tbbMeter
tbbMeter is a bandwidth meter to help you monitor your Internet usage. It comes with a graph to allow you to see how much data your computer is sending to and receiving from the Internet in real time.
The good thing about tbbMeter is that it is highly configurable. You can change the visual style to show animated icon, scrolling graph or bar meter and get it to display the traffic for all Internet connection or only for local connection.
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This excerpt is shared with permission from maketecheasier.com.
