NetLimiter

Having control over everything a computer does is a great way to go. When it comes to managing your Internet traffic, Net Limiter can be a really useful tool. It lets you decide transfer rate limits for your applications and helps you monitor their traffic.

The installation kit is close to 5 Mb so it shouldn't be a hard task for any Internet connection. The installation process isn't exactly instant. While waiting for the progress bar to fill up, you'll be repeatedly prompted if the program should be allowed through the firewall and, after it's done, you will need to restart your computer.

The interface may look a bit full and compact, but it's actually quite easy to understand. The central part of the main window features a list of all processes that have anything to do with the Internet. Next to each process you'll see statistics such as download and upload speed, and options to limit them. This is done by clicking a small check box from certain columns. By default, the download or upload limit is 5 Kb/s, but you can set a different value by simply clicking on it in the list. For incoming or outgoing blockers you can set certain firewall actions, like allow, deny or ask. All done with a few clicks in the main list. It goes without saying that you can make these settings for each individual process.

To the right of this list you can find additional options, like adding or editing certain limit rules and schedules for a process. You will also find a toolbox here that lets you see a stats window with a history of your transferred data. It can be set to display time periods from years all the way to hours. You can find other statistics and options throughout the interface, neatly placed either on the window's top or bottom side, but you'll be preoccupied with the program's main features.