Everything Bytevane does

• Live speeds next to the clock

  Download and upload, refreshed every 0.5, 1, 2 or 5 seconds. The numbers keep a fixed width, so the taskbar never jitters.

• A second column if you want it

  Add today’s usage, the network adapter’s name, ping to 1.1.1.1, or link use as a share of the adapter’s speed.

• Hover for a chart

  Hover the speeds for a live chart with the peak, today’s total and the busiest app right now.

• Your layout

  Upload above download or side by side; arrows, words or no prefix; text from 7 to 24 pt, bold or regular. Colours follow your taskbar, light or dark.

• Your spot

  Next to the clock, at either end, in the middle, or wherever you drag it. Lock it in place and pick which monitor’s taskbar shows it.

• Out of the way

  Hides while a full-screen app is open, can let clicks pass through to the taskbar, and comes back by itself if Windows Explorer restarts.

• One click from the details

  Double-click the speeds to open the dashboard, or right-click for the menu. An amber dot appears when Data Guard has an alert you haven’t seen.

• Four icon styles

  Arrows that light up when data moves, bars, a mini graph, or compact numbers. Colours adapt to a light or dark taskbar.

• Tooltip

  Current download and upload, the adapter in use, and today’s total.

• Menu

  Open the dashboard or Data Guard, show or hide the taskbar speeds, pause measuring, open Settings, or quit.

• Overview

  Live download and upload with a 60-second chart you can pause, today’s total split into download and upload, this month’s total, the latest Data Guard alert and the three busiest apps.

• Apps

  Every app that used your connection in the last 15 minutes, today, 7 or 30 days, with its icon and its download and upload. Traffic Windows can’t tie to an app shows as “System and unattributed”.

• History from before you installed it

  Per-app and per-network usage comes from records Windows already keeps, so the Apps and Networks pages aren’t empty on day one.

• Networks

  Usage for each Wi-Fi network, phone hotspot and Ethernet connection, for this month or your billing cycle.

• History

  One bar per day for any month, with the month’s total and daily average. Export every stored day as CSV. Kept for 365 days by default, or forever.

• Billing-cycle forecast

  Pro

  With a monthly cap set, the Overview shows how much of it you’ve used, a progress ring, and the date you’ll reach it at your current pace.

• Light, dark or Windows

  The dashboard follows your Windows theme, or pick light or dark. On Windows 11 it uses the Mica backdrop.

• Checks every minute

  Data Guard looks at how much each app used in the last 15 minutes and alerts when one reaches your limit: 100 MB, 250 MB, 500 MB (the default), 1 GB or 2 GB.

• Stricter on metered connections

  On a connection Windows treats as metered, such as a phone hotspot, the limit drops to a quarter, so 500 MB becomes 125 MB.

• Windows Update too

  When Windows itself uses a lot, the alert says so and offers a shortcut to set the network as metered so updates wait.

• Calm by design

  At most one alert per app per hour, Windows’ Do Not Disturb is respected, and any app can be muted.

• Alert log

  Recent alerts with their times. Click a notification to open that app on the Apps page.

• Speed and daily alerts

  Optional notifications when download or upload goes above a speed you set, when download stays below one for 15 seconds, or when today’s usage reaches an amount.

• Share of what’s left

  Pro

  With a monthly cap, an app that uses 5% of your remaining data in 15 minutes triggers an alert even below your limit.

• Block any app

  Pro

  Adds a Windows Firewall rule that stops the app reaching the internet, for desktop and Store apps. Unblock any time; the rule is visible in Windows Firewall as “Bytevane: app name”.

• Upload limit for one app

  Pro

  Cap a desktop app’s upload at 128 KB/s up to 50 MB/s, so a cloud backup can’t swamp a video call.

• Upload limit for the whole PC

  Pro

  The same presets, applied to everything at once.

• Windows Update and Store cap

  Pro

  Limit how fast Windows Update and the Microsoft Store download, from 256 KB/s to 5 MB/s. Stays in place after a restart.

• Limits that come back

  Pro

  Windows clears upload limits when the PC restarts. Bytevane notices and turns them back on with one approval.

• Monthly cap and forecast

  Pro

  Set your allowance and billing day (1 to 28). Bytevane forecasts the date you’ll reach it from the last 7 days and alerts at 50%, 80% and 100%.

• Caps for one network

  Pro

  Count only your phone hotspot or travel router toward the cap, and leave home Wi-Fi out.

• Yours on every PC

  Pro

  Pro belongs to your Microsoft account and unlocks wherever you sign in to the Microsoft Store.

Bytevane can’t limit how fast an app downloads: Windows only lets apps slow down what a PC sends, and download limits would need a network driver that Store apps can’t install. To stop an app downloading, block it.

• Bytes or bits

  MB/s like download managers, or Mb/s like speed tests. 1 KB as 1,024 or 1,000 bytes, a fixed unit or automatic, 0 to 3 decimal places.

• The right adapter

  Follow the busiest adapter automatically, add them all together, or pick one. Virtual adapters such as Hyper-V, WSL and VMware are skipped, and VPNs still count.

• Start with Windows

  Off until you turn it on. Pause measuring from the tray whenever you like.

• Welcome tour

  Three short screens on first run show where the speeds live, the optional monthly cap and what Data Guard does.

• No account, no telemetry

  Nothing to sign up for, no analytics and no Bytevane server. The only connections are the optional ping and the Microsoft Store, for Pro.

• Light

  The always-on part uses about 16 MB of memory and 0.2% of one CPU core. Both programs are native code, with no .NET runtime to install.

• Administrator only when it matters

  Everyday use needs no administrator rights. Only blocking, unblocking and speed limits ask, every time.

• Recovers from problems

  A damaged settings or history file is set aside and replaced with defaults, with a notification. Waking from sleep never shows a fake spike.

• Carries over from NetSpeed Tray

  Bytevane 2.0 installs as an update to NetSpeed Tray 1.x, bringing your settings, history and Start with Windows choice, and leaving the old files untouched.

• Windows

  Windows 10 version 1809 or later, or Windows 11.

• PCs

  x64 and ARM64, each with its own native build.

• Languages

  English, 日本語, 简体中文 and Deutsch.

• Where to get it

  Only from the Microsoft Store, which installs and updates it.