Rainmeter Network Monitor: Understanding Traffic Measurement

When your computer is connected to a local network through a router (LAN), the network traffic includes all interactions between your computer, the router, and any other devices on the LAN. The Rainmeter Network Monitor measures the network traffic in and out of your computer's network interface controller (NIC). In this article, we will explore how the traffic is measured and provide tips for accurate measurement.

Measuring Traffic

The measured value is simply the network traffic in bytes per second, which is factored by the total update rate of the measure. Rainmeter automatically converts the value to bytes when it is used in a meter or measure. It's essential to set the Update option for the skin and any UpdateDivider option on the measures to update at a consistent rate, usually once a second.

Understanding Internal Measurement

The Net measures internally measure traffic across the NIC in bits per second. The internal measurement is automatically divided by 8 (since there are 8 bits in a byte) to display the values as bytes in measures and meters. This means that any MinValue and MaxValue options on the measures should be set in bits, not bytes.

Types of Net Measures

Rainmeter offers three types of Net measures:

* Measure=NetTotal: Measures both incoming and outgoing network traffic.

* Measure=NetOut: Measures outgoing (upload) network traffic.

* Measure=NetIn: Measures incoming (download) network traffic.

By understanding how the Rainmeter Network Monitor measures traffic, you can better configure your skin to display accurate network usage statistics. Remember to set the Update option and any UpdateDivider options to ensure consistent measurement rates, and don't forget to set MinValue and MaxValue options in bits if using them to support a percentage in meters.

Rainmeter network monitor