12-14-2002, 08:03 AM -
I agree that a network monitor plugin would be very useful (although I think this topic belongs under the TLB discussions). My suggestion would be 2 horizontal bar graphs, one for inbound traffic, one for out. Allow the user to select his internet connection (from dial-up through T1) from a list in the proprties window. Maybe have another selection in that list called "other" which activates 2 text boxes to enter up and downstream speed manually. Maybe include a link to dslreports.com's speed tests to help people figure out their speeds. The plugin could then use the entered "max" values, monitor the actual traffic, and compute a percentage to populate the graph for each side. I'd also like to have the option of displaying the actual bandwidth used (in kb) or a percentage inside this graph (similar to drive space), or just the text readouts for people who don't want the graph.