Windows Ping Tray Widget

📊 About The Project

Windows Ping Tray Widget is a lightweight Python application that displays your real-time internet ping directly in the Windows 11 system tray. This simple yet useful tool helps you monitor your network latency at a glance without opening any additional windows or applications.

Perfect for gamers, remote workers, or anyone who needs to keep an eye on their network performance throughout the day.

I developed this tool in order to check my internet reliability on my pretty bad home internet connection.

✨ Key Features

• Real-time Monitoring: Continuous ping display updated in the system tray
• Context Menu: Right-click access to quick actions
  • Open GitHub repository
  • Quit application
• Auto-startup: Automatic launch with Windows using provided batch script
• Lightweight: Minimal resource usage, runs silently in the background
• No Console Window: Uses pythonw.exe for a clean, distraction-free experience
• Easy Installation: Automated setup with batch script

🛠️ Technical Stack

• Language: Python 3
• Libraries:
  • pystray - System tray icon management
  • pillow - Image processing for tray icon
  • ping3 - Network ping functionality
• Platform: Windows 11 (compatible with Windows 10)
• Execution: pythonw.exe (background process)

📦 Installation

Prerequisites

• Python 3.x installed and added to PATH
• Windows 10/11

Quick Setup

1. Clone or download the repository

   git clone https://github.com/KaazDW/Windows-Ping-in-TrayTaskbar.git
   cd Windows-Ping-in-TrayTaskbar
   

2. Install dependencies

   pip install pystray pillow ping3
   

3. Enable auto-startup

   • Double-click automated-startup.bat
   • The script will:
     • Copy files to %appdata%\PingTaskbarWidget
     • Create a startup shortcut
     • Launch automatically at every Windows startup

🚀 Usage

• Manual launch: Run taskbar.py
• Automatic launch: Configured via the batch script
• View ping: Check the system tray for real-time ping value
• Access menu: Right-click the tray icon for options

🗑️ Uninstallation

Two methods available:

Method 1: Automated

# Run the uninstall script
uninstall.bat

Method 2: Manual

1. Delete %appdata%\PingTaskbarWidget folder
2. Delete PingTaskbarWidget.lnk from Startup folder (shell:startup)

💡 What I Learned

This project helped me explore:

• System Tray Integration: Working with Windows system tray APIs through Python
• Network Monitoring: Implementing real-time ping functionality

but the main learning was how bad my actual home internet connection is..

🔧 Technical Notes

• The script uses pythonw.exe to prevent console window from appearing
• Requires Python to be properly installed and accessible in system PATH
• Ping target can be customized in the source code
• Update interval is configurable

🔗 Links

• GitHub Repository: KaazDW/Windows-Ping-in-TrayTaskbar

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