NetSpeed

NetSpeed is a tiny software application that monitors your network traffic to show the current download and upload rate. It lets you select the preferred network adapter as well as limit the download and upload time.

No setup required, besides .NET Framework

As long as you have .NET Framework installed on your PC, you don't need to set up anything else. This means that you can save the executable file in any part of the disk and simply click it to launch NetSpeed. Another option is to copy it to a removable storage unit, in order to directly run it on any computer with minimum effort. Plus, it doesn't modify Windows registry settings.

Systray accessibility

Once launched, NetSpeed creates an icon in the system tray area and sits there silently, so it doesn't interrupt your regular PC activities. Hovering the mouse cursor over the icon reveals the current download and upload rate.

View a graph and customize app settings

Clicking the tray icon brings up to the screen a small frame with a black background, where you can study a graph with the evolution of network traffic concerning the download and upload rate, including average and maximum recorded rate. This window can be set to stay on top of other applications.
As far as program options are concerned, you can pick the network interface and modify the default values when it comes to the maximum download and upload, refresh interval, the frame's width and height, and whether or not to show the average values in the graph.

Evaluation and conclusion

We haven't encountered any stability issues in our tests, thanks to the fact that the app didn't freeze, crash or prompt error messages. It had minimal impact on PC performance, running on low CPU and RAM.
To sum it up, NetSpeed may not be filled with rich features and customization options, but it offers a straightforward method to monitoring and limiting network traffic.