A live CPU graph in your tray with Pulse by Zaweba
Pulse by Zaweba can draw a live graph of recent CPU use in its tray icon, with a live tooltip, so you can watch your PC at a glance.
The smallest view of your PC in Pulse by Zaweba is also the one you'll see most. Rather than showing its logo in the notification area, Pulse can draw a tiny live graph of recent CPU use right in the tray icon. It's on by default, so the first time you run Pulse you'll see it ticking along next to the clock.
What it shows
The graph traces your processor's recent use across the width of the icon. Quiet moments sit low; busy ones climb. Because it moves all the time, you soon learn your PC's ordinary rhythm, and anything unusual catches your eye without you having to look for it.
Hover over the icon and a live tooltip appears, giving you a little more detail without opening any window at all.
Why it's useful
Most of the time you don't want a system monitor in front of you. You want to get on with your work and only be told when something is off. A graph in the tray is a good fit for that. If the PC feels slow, a glance down tells you straight away whether the processor is the cause. If the icon is flat, you can look elsewhere: the disk, the network, or memory.
It's also handy while waiting for something to finish. An export, an install or a game update will show as a raised line; when it drops back, the work is probably done.
Opening Pulse from it
The tray icon is also your way back into Pulse. Closing the main window doesn't stop Pulse, it keeps running in the tray, and the tray menu offers Open Pulse, Temperatures, History, Mini meter, Settings, Send feedback, About and Exit. So when the graph shows something you want to investigate, open Pulse from the menu and go to the Live page, where you can sort apps by CPU to find the busy one.
Turning it off
If you'd rather see the logo, switch the graph off in Settings, under Start-up and display. Some people prefer a still icon among the others in the tray, and that's fine. Everything else in Pulse carries on working the same way.
Pairing it with the mini meter
The tray graph shows CPU only. If you want more at a glance, the mini meter is a small always-on-top window showing CPU, RAM, GPU and network down, each with a tiny graph. You can drag it anywhere, and it remembers its place. Turn it on from the File menu, the tray menu or Settings.
The two work well together. The tray graph is always there and takes no room. The mini meter is for times when you want to watch several things closely, such as a game session or a long render, and can be closed again afterwards.
A light touch
Drawing the icon costs very little. Pulse is built to stay light in the background, using about 0.1 per cent CPU and 70 MB on its test PC. The tray graph is part of that, and it's the reason many people leave Pulse by Zaweba running all day without a second thought.
