Troubleshooting and FAQ

Troubleshooting & FAQ

The meter isn't visible

• Is it switched off? Press Ctrl + Alt + N, or right-click the tray icon and tick Show speed meter.
• Is the taskbar set to auto-hide? The meter hides along with the taskbar; hover the bottom of the screen.
• Is a full-screen app in front? The meter hides during full-screen apps. Turn that off in Meter & display → Position.
• Is "Hide meter below" set? The meter then only appears when there is traffic.
• Has it been moved off-screen? Right-click the tray icon → Position → Reset position.
• Can't find the tray icon? On Windows 11 it may be in the overflow (^) area. See The taskbar meter → tray icon.

The meter covers part of the taskbar

Drag it to a free spot, or set an X offset in Meter & display → Position. If your taskbar has lots of pinned apps, try Side by side layout with a smaller font, or Taskbar, left side.

The meter sometimes appears behind the taskbar

When you click the taskbar, Windows briefly raises it. WinSpeed brings itself back on top at every update (once a second by default). If you see this often, lower the update interval.

The speeds look too high / too low

• Double numbers with a VPN? Make sure virtual adapters aren't counted (Settings → Network adapters → Automatic, with Also count virtual adapters off).
• MB/s vs Mbps? 100 Mbps ≈ 12 MB/s. See Units explained.
• Different from my ISP's speed test? The meter shows the traffic this PC is actually moving right now, not your line's maximum. Use the built-in Speed test to measure capacity.

Data usage doesn't match my bill

WinSpeed only sees this PC, and only while it's running. Phones, TVs and other devices on your connection aren't included. See Data limits & alerts → Accuracy.

It says I'm offline but the internet works

Some networks block ping. Set Ping host to your router's address (often 192.168.1.1 or 192.168.0.1) or another host that answers, or turn off connection monitoring.

The hotkey doesn't work

Another app may already use it; WinSpeed shows a notification if it couldn't register it. Choose a different combination under Settings → Mouse, keyboard & tray.

SmartScreen warns about the installer

The installer isn't code-signed yet. Click More info → Run anyway, or verify the file against SHA256SUMS.txt from the release. See Installation.

How much memory and CPU does it use?

About 15–25 MB of RAM and well under 1 % CPU while running in the background. The main window uses a little more while it's open.

Does it work on Windows 7 or 8?

It's built and tested for Windows 10 and 11. It may start on 8.1 with .NET Framework 4.6.2 or later installed, but that isn't supported.

Where do I report a bug?

Open an issue and attach error.log from the data folder if there is one (About → Open data folder).