The Networking tab provides an indication of the network traffic for the connections on the local computer. It is useful as a quick reference for determining the amount of network bandwidth being consumed. When multiple network connections are being used, it allows easy comparison of the traffic for each connection.
If you have multiple networking cards on your computer, the chart displays a composite index of all networks, representing all network traffic.
In order to show a visible line on the graph for network traffic on any interface, the view automatically scales to magnify the view of traffic versus available bandwidth. So in a low traffic situation, the full height of the graph may represent only 5% of available bandwidth for the connection. When traffic increases beyond that level, the scaling will be reduced to give a less magnified view of the current traffic (for example, to display 10% of the total available bandwidth). The greater the percentage shown on the graph, the less is the magnification of traffic with respect to available bandwidth. The scaling factor is indicated on the graph. To disable scaling, on the Options menu, click Auto Scale to toggle the value.
In addition, you can change the column headings that are displayed below the graph. These headings are described in the following table.
| Column Name | Default ON? | Description |
Network Adapter Name | Yes | Name of the network adapter in the Network Connections folder. |
Adapter Description |
| Description of the adapter, typically the same as the device name in the network connections folder. |
Network Utilization |
| Network utilization percentage based on the initial connection speed for the interface. |
Linkspeed |
| Connection speed of the interface taken from the initial connection speed. |
Bytes Sent Throughput |
| The percentage of connection bandwidth used by traffic sent from the machine in the polling time period. |
Bytes Received Throughput |
| The percentage of connection bandwidth used by traffic received by the machine in the polling time period. |
Bytes Throughput |
| The percentage of connection bandwidth used by both sent and received traffic in the polling time period. |
Bytes Sent |
| The total number of bytes sent on the connection to date. Cumulative, can be reset. |
Bytes Received |
| The total number of bytes received on the connection to date. Cumulative, can be reset. |
Bytes Total |
| The total number of bytes sent and received on the connection to date. Cumulative, can be reset. |
Bytes Sent/Interval |
| The total number of bytes sent on the connection in the polling time interval. |
Bytes Received/Interval |
| The total number of bytes received on the connection in the polling time interval. |
Bytes/Interval |
| The total number of bytes received and sent on the connection in the polling time interval. |
Unicasts Sent |
| The total number of bytes requested to be transmitted to unicast addresses by higher-level protocols. The value includes the packets that were discarded or not sent. |
Unicasts Received |
| The total number of bytes received from unicast addresses by higher-level protocols |
Unicasts |
| The total number of Unicast Sent and Unicast Received packets to date. |
Unicasts Sent/Interval |
| The total number of bytes requested to be transmitted to subnet-unicast addresses by higher-level protocols on the connection in the polling time interval. |
Unicasts Received/Interval |
| The total number of bytes from subnet-unicast addresses delivered to higher-level protocols on the connection in the polling time interval. |
Unicasts/Interval |
| The total number of Unicast Sent and Unicast Received packets for the connection in the polling time interval. |
Nonunicasts Sent |
| The total number of bytes requested to be transmitted to nonsubnet-unicast addresses by higher-level protocols on the connection to date. |
Nonunicasts Received |
| The total number of bytes from nonsubnet-unicast addresses delivered to higher-level protocols by on the connection to date. |
Nonunicasts |
| The total number of nonunicast Sent and nonunicast Received packets to date. |
Nonunicasts Sent/Interval |
| The total number of bytes requested to be transmitted to nonsubnet-unicast addresses by higher-level protocols on the connection in the polling time interval. |
Nonunicasts Received/Interval |
| The total number of bytes from nonsubnet-unicast addresses delivered to higher-level protocols on the connection in the polling time interval. |
Nonunicasts/Interval |
| The total number of nonunicast Sent and nonunicast Received packets in the polling time interval. |
Change display options in Task Manager
View your computer's performance