See useful PC information on your taskbar

Windows 7 has a useful feature called Gadgets (also known as widgets) that lets you display handy information about your PC (including system usage and RAM) as graphs. You can click and drag these to sit anywhere on your desktop. Unfortunately, Microsoft deemed these gadgets unsafe because they contain serious vulnerabilities (read more info at www.snipca.com/24864).

I recently read about a new program called Xmeters that has similar features. To download it, go to www.snipca. com/24863 and click the Download button at the bottom of the page (it works with Windows 7, 8/8.1 and 10). Some antivirus programs may detect it as a false positive, but I’ve been using it for a few weeks and can confirm that it’s safe.

When it launches, you’ll see four icons on your taskbar (see screenshot below), which show your CPU usage, your PC’S read and write speeds, your internet upload and download speeds, and your PC’S memory. Right-click any of these icons to open a window that lets you customise them.

The graphs can be really helpful. Should the CPU graph spike for prolonged periods, for example, you should close all your programs because your PC might be about to crash. It’s also a good way to keep an eye on your broadband speeds. Kenneth Wall