Vitals
Getting started
Install it on each PC, choose the same history folder each time, and the report shows them all.
Contents
Install on each PC
- Download the installer and run it.
- Choose where the history is kept. Pick a folder that OneDrive (or another cloud service) keeps in sync. The suggested one is in your OneDrive Documents. Choose the same folder on every PC: that is what lets one report show them all.
- Name the PC. The computer's own name is suggested. If the folder already holds history, setup lists the PCs in it; to carry one on, use its name exactly.
- Windows asks for permission once, to install PawnIO, a small signed driver that lets Vitals read the processor's temperature and fans. Choose Yes to have those readings. If you choose No, everything else works and you are not asked again. Updates never ask.
The meter appears by the clock straight away, and starts again every time you sign in to Windows.
The meter by the clock
The small window is a table: download and upload speed with megabits per second in brackets; today, this week, this month, this year and all time; and processor load, memory, CPU and drive temperatures and how quickly the internet answers. Drag it wherever you like.
Right click it for its options: a different look (called a skin), which connections to count, and its own history window, Historical Traffic Statistics. If you close it, open Vitals live meter from the Start menu to bring it back.
The report
Open Vitals from the Start menu.
- Choose the PCs at the top left: All devices, one PC, several (click each), or a saved group. Every figure on the page adds up your choice.
- Choose the period, from the last 7 days to all time, and how to show it: by day, week, month or year.
- Usage by day can split each bar by PC, or into download and upload.
- Every day for the last year is a calendar: darker days used more. Hover over any day, bar or hour for its exact figures.
- Time of day shows which hours use the most, on average.
- By device and Busiest days list who used what, and when.
Groups, names and your internet line
Click Groups and names. Give each PC a friendly name, enter your internet line's speed from a speed test (download and upload, in Mbps), and make groups such as Home or Office. Every PC sharing the history folder sees the same groups and names.
With the line speed entered, the fastest speeds on the Detail page also say how much of your line they used.
One day in detail
The Detail page shows one PC on one day, minute by minute: download and upload speed, each connection, how quickly the internet answered and any minutes it did not, the WiFi signal on a laptop, which apps used the data, processor and memory, disk activity, and the hardware readings such as temperatures. Use the arrows to move a day at a time.
The Apps list on the Usage page shows which programs used the data over the chosen period. It starts with the last 30 days Windows still holds on the day you install, and keeps everything from then on.
Speeds show in the usual units, with megabits per second in brackets, for example 1.42 MB/s (11.9 Mbps). Internet lines and speed tests use megabits per second.
Minute detail starts on the day Vitals is installed. Earlier days have daily totals, and hourly figures where BitMeter kept them.
Changing PC
Install Vitals on the new PC, choose the same history folder, and give it the old PC's name. The report carries on that history as one PC. If you keep both PCs, give the new one its own name instead, and use a group to see them together.
Coming from BitMeter
If BitMeter OS is on the PC when you install, setup copies its whole history into the shared folder, hour by hour, and adds its daily totals to the meter's own history, so the all time figure carries on. Check the report shows the old years, then remove BitMeter from Settings, Apps.
Updates
Nothing changes by itself
Vitals never updates without you. The meter's own update prompt is switched off, because a new meter version is only included once it has been checked with Vitals.
You are told
When a newer version is out, the top of the report says so.
Updating is one click
Click Update. It closes the meter, updates, and starts everything again, without asking for permission. Your history and settings are kept.
Removing
Use Settings, Apps, Installed apps, then Vitals, Uninstall, and choose Yes when Windows asks. Everything it added to the PC is removed, PawnIO included if Vitals installed it (Windows asks for permission for that). It then asks whether to keep this PC's own copy of its history, which is the default. The shared history in your OneDrive folder is never deleted by an uninstall, because your other PCs use it.