connection icon on taskbar

Evening all, here is an interesting one (for me). I have an icon on my tasbar which used to show my actual connection speed to the internet (my provider is BT) - lost this icon once, see earlier post. I have just upgraded my security software to Norton Internet Security 2009 - now, coincidently or as a result of this, I have lost the ability to show actual connection speed (in my case anywhere between 3.7 and 4.2 Mbps), instead it simply shows maximum connection speed possible for ethernet link ie 100Mbps. Now interesting thing is, my computer boots up quicker to a usable web page than it did before.
So, did my laptop have, or indeed still have somewhere, a piece of software that actually used to measure my connection speed before showing this icon, hence the longer boot time before?
Also, where has this ability to show 'actual' connection speed gone?
regards,
gyron

It did not measure it, but as part of the UPnP spec the computer could ask your UPnP router what its WAN connection speed was.

So at some point a this UPnP has been disabled, or may being blocks by Norton

Thank you for your reply. I have checked Universal Plug and Play and this shows the status as 'started' and the startup type as 'automatic' so I guess that bit of your sugestion is working OK. Similarly, if the Norton software was doing something amiss this would not be showing the status os OK.
Interesting.
gyron

any other ideas please?
Gyron

Too little information. For instance perhaps you used to use a USB modem and you now use a router; perhaps you used a wireless connection, now you use wired.

If it bothers you, you'll have to post more details about your setup.

http://winhlp.com/node/16 may be worth a read

As I mentioned when you asked this before - It might be some s/w that BT supplied you with? ...

Hello b4dger,
I will go back to your previous mailing and re-read. To my knowledge nothing has happened/changed wrt my BT connection between the time I had 'actual' and 'max line speed' indications on taskbar.
Gyron

Hello john2007,
sorry about that, was trying to be cautious and not turn my mail into an essay - never was much good at precis!
The Modem is a BT Voyager 2091 wireless router. I connect to the router via an ethernet cable whilst my wife, in another room, connects to same router via wireless link.
There has been no change whatsover regarding my BT connection between the time I could read 'actual' speed and, now, 'max line indication' of 100Mbps - previously the taskbar indication showed variable connection speed anywhere between 3.7 and 4.3 Mbps.
All that changed between the different readings was that I upgraded to Norton Security 2009 (maybe coincidendal) - Norton, although helpful, say nothing in upgrade could have caused this to happen. BT (less than helpful), hardly understood what I was trying to explain, and said indicator 'always' reads 'max connection' speed only!!! Tried to explain thi was not the case - said they could not help - hence my question here!
Gyron

Thank you MrSaffron for reply,
A lot to digest in this article, thanks will read properly.
Perhaps for extra clarification I ought to add that there was no apparent loss of the taskbar icon - problem is the change of reading it provides.
gyron

Can sympathise with your issue. All the searching results in failure - been there done that....I too did have this very icon on XP that you refer to. Indeed on my wife's desk top XP set up it is still there and as we're accessing broadband via the same BT router I can log on to her machine to "read" the download speed which other posts tell us BT does'nt seem to accept is possible.....???? At time of writing this is 7.2mb/s which is pretty good I think. My ISP quotes 8mb/s so I think I'm getting a good result, but then I am only 800 yds from the exchange. I did restore the icon briefly on my set up, but when I next booted the computer it had disappeared and, no matter what I try, I can't make the process to display it work any more. It does involve making some change to the UPnP setup, but other than that I can't see how it can be achieved. When you get it right a further icon appears under the network connections panel(with the 1394 and the LAC it makes three icons ) from where you can select the option to display an icon in the task bar. Whether my antivirus upgrade software (AVG 8_full version) is responsible I can't say as I had installed it around the same time.......
Point is you are spot on....this icon is out there somewhere and you don't have to buy software; it's built into windows if only it can be found. Oh! and my ISP has been no help either and keeps referring me to a web site where I can get a speed check all very time consuming and fiddly when with this icon hovering over it gives you the speed instantly!
Not much help, but perhaps the wizkids out there will now better appreciate the issue you and I are trying to resolve.