Net Speed is a free, safe and clean gadget that will let you see your upload and download speeds.
The advantage of this gadget is that it won’t show a graph but the exact download and upload values at a refresh rate you can define (the default is 1 second).
In the Settings of Net Speed select your network interface, select the refresh rate you prefer, and you are ready to rock!
You don’t need to be an expert. Usually you have 3 or 4 choices for selecting your network interface. If you don’t see any speed at all (assuming you download or upload something at the time, off course), just select the second option, and go on until you find your working interface.
With this gadget you will be able to see the traffic of your PC and the exact speeds, even if a program won’t provide connection details. You will be able, e.g., to monitor Windows Updates, that start on the background without even letting you know they started, nor giving any speed information.
Run the .gadget file to start using Net Speed immediately, or save it to your disk to install later.