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Network Activity Indicator for Windows 7

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4.86/5 (61 votes)
27 Jan 2010CPOL1 min read 706.2K   8.5K   83   74
Displays the old "two monitors" icon in Windows 7 that flashed blue to show network activity on the System Tray.
Network Activity Indicator

Introduction

In Windows XP, I was used to turning on "Show icon in notification area when connected" and Windows would display a blinking icon to indicate network traffic on the System Tray.
In Windows 7, all I can get is a static icon to show I am on a network, no animation to show me the traffic.

I figured out that the animation feature had been removed from Windows 7, so I decided to create a simple application to satisfy those people (including myself) who want to see when data is coming and going on the network.

A long time ago, I developed a small utility called Network Lights which blinks keyboard LEDs (Light Emitting Diode) indicating outgoing and incoming network packets on the network interface. This utility with source code can be found here: www.itsamples.com/network-lights.html. I remade it to control the System Tray icon instead of keyboard LEDs and adapted it to Windows 7 environment.

Using the Code

The core of this program is a separate thread that obtains current TCP, UDP and ICMP statistics and decides which icon should be displayed on the System Tray:

C++
void TCPThread(LPVOID pInfo)
{
	MIB_TCPSTATS  mibTcpStats;
	MIB_UDPSTATS  mibUdpStats;
	MIB_ICMP      mibIcmpStats;

	UINT nCounter = 0;
	DWORD dwSegTcpRcvd = 0;
	DWORD dwSegTcpSent = 0;
	DWORD dwSegUdpRcvd = 0;
	DWORD dwSegUdpSent = 0;
	DWORD dwSegIcmpRcvd = 0;
	DWORD dwSegIcmpSent = 0;
	DWORD dwLocalOutSegs = 0;
	DWORD dwLocalInSegs = 0;

	while(m_bWorkContinue)
	{
		if(m_bSetIconContinue)
		{
			m_dwPacketsSent = 0;
			m_dwPacketsReceived = 0;

			m_bSetIconContinue = FALSE;

			if(m_bDisplayTCP)
			{
				if(GetTcpStatistics(&mibTcpStats) == NO_ERROR)
				{
					dwLocalInSegs = mibTcpStats.dwInSegs;
					dwLocalOutSegs = mibTcpStats.dwOutSegs;

					m_dwPacketsSent += dwLocalOutSegs;
					m_dwPacketsReceived += dwLocalInSegs;

					if(dwLocalOutSegs > dwSegTcpSent && 
						dwLocalInSegs > dwSegTcpRcvd)
					{
						dwSegTcpSent = dwLocalOutSegs;
						dwSegTcpRcvd = dwLocalInSegs;
						SetTrayIcon(NIM_MODIFY, 
							m_hActiveIcon);
						goto done;
					}
					else if(dwLocalOutSegs > dwSegTcpSent && 
						dwLocalInSegs <= dwSegTcpRcvd)
					{
						dwSegTcpSent = dwLocalOutSegs;
						SetTrayIcon
						(NIM_MODIFY, m_hSendIcon);
						goto done;
					}
					else if(dwLocalInSegs > dwSegTcpRcvd && 
						dwLocalOutSegs <= dwSegTcpSent)
					{
						dwSegTcpRcvd = dwLocalInSegs;
						SetTrayIcon(NIM_MODIFY, 
							m_hReceiveIcon);
						goto done;
					}
					else 
						nCounter++;

					if(nCounter == 10)
					{
						nCounter = 0;
						SetTrayIcon(NIM_MODIFY, 
							m_hInactiveIcon);
						goto done;
					}
				}
			}

			if(m_bDisplayUDP)
			{
				if(GetUdpStatistics(&mibUdpStats) == NO_ERROR)
				{
					dwLocalInSegs = mibUdpStats.dwInDatagrams;
					dwLocalOutSegs = mibUdpStats.dwOutDatagrams;

					m_dwPacketsSent += dwLocalOutSegs;
					m_dwPacketsReceived += dwLocalInSegs;

					if(dwLocalOutSegs > dwSegUdpSent && 
						dwLocalInSegs > dwSegUdpRcvd)
					{
						dwSegUdpSent = dwLocalOutSegs;
						dwSegUdpRcvd = dwLocalInSegs;
						SetTrayIcon(NIM_MODIFY, 
							m_hActiveIcon);
						goto done;
					}
					else if(dwLocalOutSegs > dwSegUdpSent && 
						dwLocalInSegs <= dwSegUdpRcvd)
					{
						dwSegUdpSent = dwLocalOutSegs;
						SetTrayIcon(NIM_MODIFY, 
							m_hSendIcon);
						goto done;
					}
					else if(dwLocalInSegs > dwSegUdpRcvd && 
						dwLocalOutSegs <= dwSegUdpSent)
					{
						dwSegUdpRcvd = dwLocalInSegs;
						SetTrayIcon(NIM_MODIFY, 
							m_hReceiveIcon);
						goto done;
					}
					else 
						nCounter++;

					if(nCounter == 10)
					{
						nCounter = 0;
						SetTrayIcon(NIM_MODIFY, 
							m_hInactiveIcon);
						goto done;
					}
				}
			}

			if(m_bDisplayICMP)
			{
				if(GetIcmpStatistics(&mibIcmpStats) == NO_ERROR)
				{
					dwLocalInSegs = 
					mibIcmpStats.stats.icmpInStats.dwMsgs;
					dwLocalOutSegs = 
					mibIcmpStats.stats.icmpOutStats.dwMsgs;

					m_dwPacketsSent += dwLocalOutSegs;
					m_dwPacketsReceived += dwLocalInSegs;

					if(dwLocalOutSegs > dwSegIcmpSent && 
						dwLocalInSegs > dwSegIcmpRcvd)
					{
						dwSegIcmpSent = dwLocalOutSegs;
						dwSegIcmpRcvd = dwLocalInSegs;
						SetTrayIcon(NIM_MODIFY, 
							m_hActiveIcon);
						goto done;
					}
					else if(dwLocalOutSegs > dwSegIcmpSent && 
						dwLocalInSegs <= dwSegIcmpRcvd)
					{
						dwSegIcmpSent = dwLocalOutSegs;
						SetTrayIcon(NIM_MODIFY, 
							m_hSendIcon);
						goto done;
					}
					else if(dwLocalInSegs > dwSegIcmpRcvd && 
						dwLocalOutSegs <= dwSegIcmpSent)
					{
						dwSegIcmpRcvd = dwLocalInSegs;
						SetTrayIcon(NIM_MODIFY, 
							m_hReceiveIcon);
						goto done;
					}
					else 
						nCounter++;

					if(nCounter == 10)
					{
						nCounter = 0;
						SetTrayIcon(NIM_MODIFY, 
							m_hInactiveIcon);
						goto done;
					}
				}
			}
done:
			m_bSetIconContinue = TRUE;
		}

		Sleep(m_nDuration);
	}

	m_hTcpThread = NULL;
}

Unlike the original Windows XP utility (that has individual indicators for each interface), this program indicates outgoing and incoming network packets on all available interfaces.

History

  • Initial post: November 20, 2009
  • Updated: January 14, 2010

    Version 1.2 allows you to display ICMP and UDP packets, show selected Network Interface traffic in bytes, use Vista-styled icons, and access the "Network Connections", "Windows Firewall" and "Network and Sharing Center" applets directly.

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
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Comments and Discussions

 
GeneralBug in Autostart code Pin
User 7049431-May-10 21:32
User 7049431-May-10 21:32 
GeneralRe: Bug in Autostart code Pin
alx_max14-Dec-10 5:59
alx_max14-Dec-10 5:59 
GeneralRe: Bug in Autostart code Pin
alx_max14-Dec-10 23:35
alx_max14-Dec-10 23:35 
GeneralThanks! Pin
Heathheath22-May-10 20:00
Heathheath22-May-10 20:00 
QuestionExcellent idea and implementation! Pin
DrABELL11-Apr-10 8:09
DrABELL11-Apr-10 8:09 
Generalmerci Pin
kannyy9-Apr-10 9:23
kannyy9-Apr-10 9:23 
GeneralMysterious "inactive"-status Pin
tray-icon10-Mar-10 23:09
tray-icon10-Mar-10 23:09 
GeneralRe: Mysterious "inactive"-status Pin
Igor Tolmachev14-Mar-10 6:58
Igor Tolmachev14-Mar-10 6:58 
Thanks for the input. Probably, you started NI several times from different locations. In this case you may have a few similar icons in the Notification Area Icons dialog box. If so, please clean up [^] the Notification Icons cache and try again.
GeneralRe: Mysterious "inactive"-status Pin
tray-icon23-Mar-10 23:32
tray-icon23-Mar-10 23:32 
GeneralNEW: "inactive"-status NOW reproducible! Pin
tray-icon25-Mar-10 10:14
tray-icon25-Mar-10 10:14 
Generalspasibo za tulzu! Pin
login_9531-Mar-10 23:08
login_9531-Mar-10 23:08 
GeneralGreat util & request Pin
sthubbar26-Feb-10 3:42
sthubbar26-Feb-10 3:42 
GeneralDefinite 5 from me too Pin
colins214-Feb-10 4:15
colins214-Feb-10 4:15 
GeneralThanks and suggestions [modified] Pin
tray-icon12-Feb-10 10:19
tray-icon12-Feb-10 10:19 
Generalthis is great thanks :D Pin
Sptator9-Feb-10 6:09
Sptator9-Feb-10 6:09 
GeneralRe: this is great thanks :D Pin
Igor Tolmachev11-Feb-10 1:16
Igor Tolmachev11-Feb-10 1:16 
GeneralImproves even the original Xp version, and Great to restore lost XP Icons Pin
chipmaster863-Feb-10 6:21
chipmaster863-Feb-10 6:21 
GeneralWorks great in Vista too! Pin
dhuddleston28-Jan-10 5:21
dhuddleston28-Jan-10 5:21 
JokeSupport for other protocols Pin
Mehdi Tirgar16-Dec-09 11:37
Mehdi Tirgar16-Dec-09 11:37 
GeneralRe: Support for other protocols Pin
Igor Tolmachev18-Dec-09 1:07
Igor Tolmachev18-Dec-09 1:07 
GeneralRe: Support for other protocols Pin
Igor Tolmachev18-Dec-09 1:16
Igor Tolmachev18-Dec-09 1:16 
GeneralRe: Support for other protocols Pin
gbrlhtclcq4-Jan-10 23:25
gbrlhtclcq4-Jan-10 23:25 
GeneralRe: Support for other protocols Pin
Igor Tolmachev11-Feb-10 1:21
Igor Tolmachev11-Feb-10 1:21 
GeneralRe: Support for other protocols Pin
gbrlhtclcq13-Feb-10 7:17
gbrlhtclcq13-Feb-10 7:17 
GeneralRe: Support for other protocols Pin
gbrlhtclcq20-Mar-10 8:43
gbrlhtclcq20-Mar-10 8:43 

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