Bytes instead of packets in local area connection status . . .

drowddrowd Texas
edited November 2004 in Science & Tech
Ok, this doesnt really go in software or netwerking, but i will go ahead and put it here. and i hope everyone can follow what i am asking. and also not make fun of me because its a stupid question. anyway, when you bring up the local area connection status window (either from an icon in system tray or from netwerk connections from control panel or from view connections in my netwerk places . . .), inside the "Activity" box, my work machine says packets and then it has the amount sent and recieved. my machine at home says bytes and is arranged in a similar fashion. now, i wanted to know if anyone knew how to change it from one to the other. i find bytes personally to be of much more use. and i have looked high and low and i cant find a place to change it. also, if you right click on either "bytes" or "packets", a dialog box comes up that says "Displays the amount of data, in either bytes or packets, sent and recieved since a connection was established.". so this also leads me to believe that there is a way to changed it. again, i have looked everywhere and the only thing i can think of is that maybe its a registry setting. anyway, thats my "problem", so thanks for the help in advanced . . .

damn, what a n00b problem . . .

Comments

  • stoopidstoopid Albany, NY New
    edited September 2003
    Interesting, I wonder why your work machine says packets... mine says bytes too ,and there's no way to change that from my understanding... is your work machine NT 4.0 WS or w2k? (versus your home machine, assuming you have XP Pro as I do, maybe it was a changed setting in XP)

    Possible solution would be to hack the registry, good luck! :p
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited October 2003
    Mine says packets and I'm using windoze XP at home and at work.

    Just a guess since I have no way of testing it but could it be based on your type of connectiong. Like network vs dial-up?
  • CAWUnitedCAWUnited
    edited October 2004
    My computer shows Packets, and i'm using cable. The computer downstairs is showing bytes and is using the same internet connection.. My computer is running XP Pro and the one downstairs is running XP Home. I would like to change mine to bytes too.. Does anyone know how yet?

    Thanks
  • SSR_06SSR_06 Iowa
    edited October 2004
    i think it might be how your switch/router fowards frames to hosts.
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited October 2004
    wonder if it's a pro vs home eddition thing.
  • stoilasstoilas
    edited October 2004
    kryyst wrote:
    wonder if it's a pro vs home eddition thing.

    No it is not a pro vs home related thing. I have Windows XP and have the same problems. The funny thing is that it used to display, in the connection icon, the transfered data in byte format, but now has changed into packet. I reinstalled (!!!) windows and still the same. I'm starting to think that is router related thingy. ;)
  • lordbeanlordbean Ontario, Canada
    edited October 2004
    I'm running two PCs side by side on the same router with the same software (XP Pro SP2), and one is showing bytes, while the other shows packets. The ONLY difference is the network controller (one is 3Com, one is Intel).
  • zenusic5zenusic5 Metro Atlanta
    edited October 2004
    I have two network adapters in the same machine running WinXPpro and one shows packets, and the other shows bytes. Strange?
  • stoilasstoilas
    edited October 2004
    XAaxaxaxaxxaxaxaxxxaxax. Sirs, ti seems that it is not in our hands. Someone send any mail to microsoft?
  • drowddrowd Texas
    edited October 2004
    yeah, its very peculiar indeed. i am truly baffled . . .
  • DisturbedMageDisturbedMage
    edited November 2004
    This issue is dependent on the net card's driver, some drivers support bytes and packets, some only support packets. The display is in bytes if the card's driver supports it, otherwise it falls back to packets.
  • lordbeanlordbean Ontario, Canada
    edited November 2004
    so basically, Intel controllers suck, and 3Com pwnz. LOL
  • SSR_06SSR_06 Iowa
    edited November 2004
    can you explain a little deeper how this works disturbedmage? all nics should receive data in bytes i thought... since they are physical layer devices... so a little deeper explination would be nice, im kinda confused lol
  • lordbeanlordbean Ontario, Canada
    edited November 2004
    all network transmissions are made in packets. While a packet is fundamentally a collection of bytes, it is still the way in which things are done, and extra work would have to go into the driver in order to report the amount of bytes sent and received, as the driver would have to figure out the size in bytes of each packet.
  • SSR_06SSR_06 Iowa
    edited November 2004
    k, thats what i wanted to know. and not all network transmissions are made in packets, switches transmit frames.
  • lordbeanlordbean Ontario, Canada
    edited November 2004
    I was talking about PC networking devices. :P
  • SSR_06SSR_06 Iowa
    edited November 2004
    i just had a missunderstanding :D i see what you mean now.
Sign In or Register to comment.