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Is there a way to log bandwidth usage for Windows XP computers?

If possible, it should log this while remaining hidden.

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4 Answers

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Wireshark is a solid app for this, but not for the novice user. Another good option is Spiceworks as it is a little more user friendly, but best for domain environments. Another more convoluted method, but nonetheless effective for simple monitoring, could be to use SNMP on the PCs that you want to check bandwidth on.

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Wireshark for bandwidth metering? o.O How did you manage to interpret “log bandwidth usage” as a request for a packet sniffer? – Synetech Mar 24 at 21:31
@Synetech, wireshark is not a packet sniffer. That is like calling the Microsoft Office suite a word processor. Winpcap is the portion that does sniffing. Once that data is there, Wireshark is a whole lot more and can pretty much be used to analyze that data in any way you want, including bandwidth analysis. It is frequently used to test QoS policies. – MaQleod Mar 26 at 22:52
Okay. I haven’t used it much in quite a while. Most of the time when I need to do any packet-sniffing, I just use Nishant’s SmartSniff (I briefly tried Microsoft’s Network Monitor and didn’t like it), so I haven’t seen Wireshark’s evolution since it was Ethereal. Thanks for the explanation. Also, I note that the Wikipedia page for Wireshark calls it a packet-analyzer instead of a packet-sniffer. I guess it’s time to give the shark another try. – Synetech Mar 27 at 22:34
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Have a look at free, cross-platform BitMeter OS:

BitMeter OS is a free, open-source, bandwidth monitor that works on Windows, Linux and Mac OSX. BitMeter OS keeps track of how much you use your internet/network connection, and allows you to view this information either via a web browser, or by using the command line tools.

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Featured by Lifehacker:

BitMeter Monitors Your Bandwidth

Note: I am not affiliated with this product in any way, shape, or form.

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Although I have seen similar questions before here, so please use search before posting. Try this one http://www.softperfect.com/products/networx/

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Have a look at ntop. It would need to run locally but it can be run as a service so it would not be readily visible to the user and is accessed through a web browser.

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