Menumeters for Windows?

November 9, 2005 10:29 AM

I have to start using Windows XP for a while, but I'm a Mac user. I'm trying to find equivalent software for the Windows machine. Specifically, I'm looking for a tool like MenuMeters, that can give a real time sampling of Network Throughput, CPU usage and RAM consumption. It would be great if the application could run in the background and consume very few CPU cycles, itself. And extra bonus points if the application is free.
posted by gsb to Computers & Internet (12 answers total)

Winbar does all of that (and more if you want). I'm not sure what you mean by running in the background though. Winbar is always visible so it might not meet that qualification (though you can set it to autohide).
posted by panoptican at 10:39 AM on November 9, 2005

Rainmeter is does all that, is pretty, is free.

Also, Konfabulator now goes by the name "Yahoo Widgets" and is available from yahoo.com
posted by unixrat at 10:50 AM on November 9, 2005

Its built it.

Hit ctrl + alt + delete, choose task manager from the menu that pops up, youve got open applications, running processes, system performance, and networking usage all right there.
posted by skrike at 10:51 AM on November 9, 2005

Whoops, I biffed that link: Yahoo! Widgets.
posted by unixrat at 10:54 AM on November 9, 2005

Rainmeter is where it's at.
posted by electric_counterpoint at 11:30 AM on November 9, 2005

Response by poster: I'll be checking out Rainmeter and a version of Winbar. I'll come back in a few days with my preference. Thanks all.
posted by gsb at 12:42 PM on November 9, 2005

Desktop Sidebar is also quite nice.
posted by Who_Am_I at 1:21 PM on November 9, 2005

Stay away from Yahoo! Widgets (formerly Konfabulator) as the software consumes a great deal of "CPU cycles".
posted by Rothko at 1:30 PM on November 9, 2005

I'd mark skrike as best answer if I could....
posted by sageleaf at 2:45 PM on November 9, 2005

Best answer: Coolmon is a good, superlightweight CPU/network.memory stat meter that sits on your desktop. it's very no-frills, and a little geeky to configure, but it's not tooooo difficult. it'll display everything; processor temperature, processor threads, network throughput, IP address, RAM usage, and much, much more. It's one of the first things I set up on every windows box I use.
posted by cathodeheart at 5:17 PM on November 9, 2005

Response by poster: sageleaf, skrike's answer is very good. Unfortunately, I was aware of the Task Manager when I asked this question. I'm looking for something I can just glance at without any additional mousing or keyboard action, like Menumeters.

I'll be checking out Coolmon, too. Thanks.
posted by gsb at 11:08 PM on November 9, 2005

Response by poster: I checked out all the apps recommended, except for the Widget stuff. When I started to play with Coolmon (version 1.0 build 1003) I was hooked, it does exactly what I need in a simple yet effective manner. Thanks for all the suggestions.
posted by gsb at 2:41 AM on November 10, 2005