Overview: CoolMon 2 – a Windows system monitoring utility

Using CoolMoon 2 you can create a ‘window’ or series of windows on your desktop that will display system stats such as CPU, RAM and page file usage, hard drive usage, MotherBoard Monitor temperatures, fan speeds, various network stats and much, much more. This overview will introduce you to CoolMon 2 and get you started on creating your own custom system monitoring utility for your desktop. CoolMon 2 is a free application for Windows 2000 and XP.

1. To get started, download CoolMon 2 from this mirror. The installation is very straight forward – you’ll mostly just click ‘next’ a bunch of times. Once the installation has completed, launch CoolMon2. It will appear on your desktop in the upper-right corner by default.
2. You should also see a new icon for CoolMon 2 in your system tray. Right-click that icon and select Edit Config.
3. This will launch Outlaw Ed – the editor for CoolMon 2.


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4. Click and drag CoolMon 2 in the Outlaw Ed window to relocate it. The location you leave it in the editor window represents the location on your desktop that CoolMon 2 will appear.


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5. Right-click within the CoolMon 2 module and a whole slew of options will be presented. From here you can add new sensors, re-size and re-locate various modules etc.
6. There are literally dozens of plugins for CoolMon 2 that extend its functionality to include such things as controlling your media player, checking email, viewing RSS feeds etc. Don’t forget to check out the visual plugins too.
7. If you need help customizing CoolMon 2 the forums and OutlawEd tutorial are particularly helpful.