taskbar-stats: live CPU, RAM and network stats in the Windows taskbar

A DeskBand toolbar instead of an overlay window

taskbar-stats displays live system stats on the Windows taskbar. The mechanism is the taskbar toolbar, or DeskBand, which is the Windows feature that lets an application register its own strip of buttons or an indicator area on the taskbar, the same mechanism that used to host the Windows clock and the notification area.

The screenshots in the repository show both the toolbar in place on the taskbar and the toolbars menu, and the README's note about the first install is a symptom of how the feature works. You may have to right-click on the taskbar twice to show the menu of TaskbarStats, because the toolbar is not enabled by default and has to be selected from the Toolbars submenu.

The features list is deliberately minimal. A compact layout, so the strip does not eat the taskbar, automatic choice of unit to display with Byte, Kilobyte, Megabyte and the rest, a stated low resource consumption, zero configuration and no options at all, and a one-second update interval for the stats.

That last pair, zero configuration and one-second updates, describes the design trade-off clearly. There is no way to change what is shown or how often, which is exactly why the thing stays out of the way, and also exactly why it will not suit someone who wants a different set of metrics.

The audience is a Windows user who wants a quick read on load without opening Task Manager, and the primary language of the repository is C++.

Windows 11 removed the hook this tool depends on

The system requirements are the first thing to read, because they define where the tool can run at all.

Windows 10, 32-bit or 64-bit, has native support. Windows 11 is supported only via ExplorerPatcher, which restores the Windows 10 taskbar DeskBand support. The README is plain about the reason: Microsoft removed native DeskBand toolbar support in Windows 11.

The Windows 11 usage instructions are three steps. Install ExplorerPatcher to enable the Windows 10 taskbar toolbar support, install TaskbarStats, then right-click the taskbar, open Toolbars, and select CpuRam, NetSpeed or whichever module you want.

That third step is worth understanding. The names in the Toolbars menu, CpuRam and NetSpeed, indicate that the statistics are grouped into separate selectable modules rather than a single fixed strip, which is a different arrangement from a single toolbar that always shows everything. The name TaskbarStats in the menu refers to the application, and the individual entries are the display modules.

Requiring a third-party tool that patches the Windows shell to run a system monitor is a real cost. ExplorerPatcher is a well-known project, but it is the kind of dependency that has to be reinstalled after some Windows updates and that a corporate IT department may block outright. On Windows 10 the tool is self-contained, and that is the configuration the author clearly designed for.

The releases, and why the source is not the point

The download link points at the GitHub releases page, and the release history has a distinctive shape. The listed versions are v26.7.4.1 from 2026-07-04, then v21.4.21.1 from 2021-04-21 and v21.4.3.1 from 2021-04-03. The version numbers are date-stamped, with the year and month embedded, and the gap between 2021 and 2026 tells you this is a long-running personal utility rather than a frequently changing product.

The more consequential fact is in the licensing section. The README lists what you are allowed to do, private use, commercial use and distribution, and points to the LICENSE.md file. But then it says, under a heading for source code, that the source code is N/A, and explains that the author still considers it open source and that at this moment you can access the reference code below, linking to a ref directory in the repository.

The repository listing confirms the shape. Alongside the usual .github/, img/ and script/ directories there is a ref/ directory, and the primary source of the project is not in the tree. The top-level entries are .github/, LICENSE.md, Privacy-policy.md, README.md, _config.yml, img/, ref/ and script/.

So this is a binary distribution with a reference implementation attached. That is a different proposition from an open source library, and it is stated plainly enough that a reader will not be misled. The reference code is there to show how the task was done, which has some value for a developer, but it is not the same as owning the code you run.

There is also a separate privacy policy document in the repository, which is the right thing for a program that samples hardware sensors and network counters on a timer.

What the tool does not do, and the macOS alternative

The scope is narrow in a way that is worth stating before anyone adopts it.

There is no configuration, which the feature list presents as a virtue and which is also the tool's main limitation. You cannot choose which metrics appear, how they are laid out, what colours they use, or how often they refresh. The refresh is fixed at one second, the unit is chosen automatically, and there are no options.

The statistics are CPU, RAM and network speed, and the toolbar menu naming in the Windows 11 instructions, CpuRam and NetSpeed, matches that. There is no disk throughput, no GPU load, no temperature readout and no per-process view in the description. A user who wants a specific figure will not find it here.

The resource consumption is described as very low, with no numbers given, so the claim is a design intent rather than a measurement you can check.

For macOS users the README points somewhere else entirely, at MacStats, described as a lightweight native menu bar app that brings the same live system stats to macOS. The comparison is explicit about the differences: MacStats displays network speed, CPU and RAM usage and CPU temperature in the menu bar, is built in pure Swift with no external dependencies, uses dynamic color coding from green to yellow to red based on system load, does automatic SMC sensor detection for both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs, and offers a configurable refresh rate, a Celsius or Fahrenheit toggle and launch-at-login support. It requires macOS 11.0 or later.

That is a different design in one important respect. Where taskbar-stats offers no configuration at all, the macOS sibling offers a configurable refresh rate, a unit toggle and launch-at-login. The Windows tool is the more opinionated of the two.

Editorial conclusion

Adopt taskbar-stats if you want CPU, RAM and network throughput visible on the Windows taskbar with no configuration and no overlay window, and you are on Windows 10 or are willing to install ExplorerPatcher on Windows 11. Do not adopt it if you need the source under your own licence terms, because the README states that source code is not available and links a reference directory instead, or if you are on macOS, where the author points you at a separate MacStats application. Verify first that your Windows version supports DeskBand toolbars natively, that the release you download matches your 32-bit or 64-bit system, and that you have read the privacy policy before letting a system monitor run continuously.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

1. Issues
2. openhoangnc/taskbar-stats on GitHub
3. Project website
4. README
5. Releases