14 DAY TRIAL // Applications that typically use a lot of bandwidth, such as download programs, usually have their own counters in place to let you know exactly how much bandwidth you are using for each task and overall. However, other applications that do not normally see a lot of bandwidth usage can be used for traffic intensive tasks. Live streaming via a browser is such an example, just like massive attachments in e-mail. For these applications, there is simply no way of knowing just how much bandwidth is being used or how well the transfer is going. Then there are other situations where you want to keep a close eye on what connections are going out and into your computer. For all these situations, there is one simple program that handles them all, StreamWatcher.
What it does
StreamWatcher monitors network interfaces to give you a detailed report about what connections are going out or coming in over those interfaces and how much bandwidth each of those connections uses. Useful for a large number of situations, it can be used to monitor everything and get a pulse on how applications are behaving.
Using it
Using StreamWatcher is simply a matter of setting up to do what you want and then letting it do its thing. The program automatically tracks all connections and displays them as a list in its window. For each connection you can see the protocol, source, destination as well as the throughput both down and up as well as an average over the life of the connection. You can opt for a preference to resolve both hostnames as well as service names, which might be something you want or not, depending on how you prefer to work with the information. Last but not least you can set up how often the program updates the information as well as how quickly inactive links are ignored.
Depending on what is happening with your connection, you might have very few connections, or so many you just can't keep track. Fortunately, StreamWatcher is smart enough to let you filter them. The filtering is pretty basic, looking for keywords in the protocol, source or destination of the connection, but it also lets you add a '-' before keywords in order to remove connections that match.
Keeping a close eye
A lot of programs such as browsers and games don't always let you know what connections they are opening, on what ports and how much bandwidth they are using. StreamWatcher lets you see this information when you want it, so you can keep tabs on what is going on. This can be useful not only for ferreting out information but also for troubleshooting since you can see exactly where your bandwidth is going, who is hogging and who is not getting enough. StreamWatcher is also useful for monitoring incoming connections, either because you suspect that there might be something coming in that should not be, or because you want to make sure everything is working as it should be. The summary drawer also gives you a very nice overview of your network interface, letting you instantly know how busy it is, both in terms of connections and in terms of bandwidth.
Write it down
As far as information goes, StreamWatcher can end up giving you a lot, even too much of it. If you have many connections up and running, it can become impossible to keep track of them, especially with new ones opening all the time and old ones closing. Fortunately, you can log everything.
The program will log every stream that opens and every stream that closes. The information can be set up any way you want it simply by going into the preferences and editing the appropriate keys. You can thus leave out unnecessary information, or reorder information to better suit your needs.
The extra mile
Unfortunately, as good as StreamWatcher is, there are still some things that are sorely missing. The first is the ability to see what applications are making what connections. As it stands, this is impossible unless you only have one single application open so you can deduce that all connections belong to it. Even then you could be wrong because system related connections can come into play. The second is the ability to see the parts of the summary information in the dock icon so that you can keep track of what is happening at a glance. The StreamWatcher window is too big and bulky to keep open just for that summary drawer.
The Good Keep an eye on what applications are doing, even if they don't normally let you know, log the information or filter it. Simple and clean, with no bloat.
The Bad Good at what it does, but it could be better. Linking applications to streams would go a long way.
The Truth Whether for troubleshooting or just out of curiosity, StreamWatcher lets you keep an eye on everything that is going through your network interface. Straightforward and easy to use, it gets the job done with minimal hassle.
Here are some screenshots, click to enlarge:
