How to Restore the Classic Network Activity Indicator in Windows 10
When I reinstalled Windows 10 a few weeks ago, the thought came to my mind: I miss the old blinking network activity light that used to give you an easy way to make sure your connection was working (and hovering over gives you an idea of how much data is available. which you download.)
Microsoft replaced this useful little dynamic icon with a regular static icon in Windows 7, and I don’t like it. Now it is really useful to only warn you when the network connection is broken. Otherwise, it’s just a uglier icon that sits there, constantly reminding you that you’re connected – which you could probably figure out if you’re busy browsing websites or watching YouTube. Such things.
There are several free apps that can help you restore the old school hardworking indicator icon, and each one has its own quirks. Here’s a quick overview of three of our favorites:
NetTraffic
This simple app adds a small icon with two arrows to the notification area. They may appear static at first, so you need to right-click the icon and open the application settings menu, and then change its refresh interval to a value below 1000ms by default, for example 100. When you do this, the red arrow blinks for the data you are send; the green arrow is flashing for the data you are receiving.
While NetTraffic won’t tell you the total “sent / received”, when you hover over the icon – just the current bit rate – clicking the arrow icon opens a handy little chart that gives you an idea of your speed over time. … If you’ve previously disabled the app’s refresh rate, go to the Chart tab in its settings menu and reduce the fixed width of its data points to maximize the time it is displayed to you.
Network activity indicator for Windows 7
The second verse is the same as the first. We said a few years ago that this app is a great alternative for Windows 7 users who were missing the blinking network light. The Network Activity Indicator for Windows 7 works just fine on Windows 10. It’s a great replica of the old icon, right down to the useful Sent / Received information that you can view by hovering over the icon.
In the settings menu of the tiny app, you can adjust how long it flashes (if you want a more responsive icon). You can even add multiple icons to display information about specific network interfaces, which is less common for most users. The network activity indicator does not have a built-in charting system, but this is normal. Nostalgia is all we need.
GabNetStats
While GabNetStats is similar to the other apps we’ve mentioned, it does have one unique feature worth highlighting: color-changing icons. Ltd. Ahhh.
When you launch an application, its icon is very similar to the network activity indicator for Windows 7, and by default it is very responsive (like blinking). Click on the icon and you’ll see a small pop-up graph of your bandwidth (just like NetTraffic, although you can’t tweak the graph size to track your upload and download speeds more closely). This is also where you’ll find the overall throughput of the session, as well as a neat little calculated average of the speed.
Open the application settings and you will see the option “Specify bandwidth (colored icons)”. This is our favorite part of GabNetStats as it changes the color of the flashing parts of the icon from blue to yellow and red depending on the bandwidth you are using. You can adjust this threshold in the Bandwidth Settings section of the Settings screen. It’s poorly described, so you’ll want to play around with a few numbers until you find a low, medium, high setting that’s right for your typical use and overall connection speed.
Tip: pin your app icon to the Windows 10 notification area
Try any of these three apps and chances are good that Windows 10 will soon close the app icon under the Show Hidden Icons button on the taskbar – useful for keeping the notification area less cluttered, but not so good when you want the icon to show information in real time.
To permanently pin the new network indicator icon to the notification area, right-click on the taskbar and select Taskbar Options. Scroll down a bit until you see the title of the notification area, and then click “Choose which icons to display on the taskbar.”
If you’re feeling wild, you can toggle the option to Always show all icons in the notification area. We recommend that you proceed piece by piece. Find the name of the network application you are using, set the switch to On. And watch the icon magically appear in the notification area.