If you recently learned to buy a Wi-Fi router and decided on the PCMag Editors' Choice D-Link DIR-825 Xtreme N Dual Band Gigabit Router--or you own any D-Link 802.11n-capable router--D-Link has a freebie for you.

Network Monitor v2.0 is a widget that works with Yahoo Widgets, Vista Gadgets, and on the Mac Dashboard (but not on Google Desktop, unfortunately). Run it on any computer on the network to get information directly from the router.

It helps if you use it on a wireless computer; on desktop wired with Ethernet to the router, the widget only provides send/receive data for the network and Internet, but not on the 2.4-GHz (and/or 5-GHz) Wi-Fi connections.

It will also show you what model router you have, what version of that model you're running, the firmware version installed, and best of all, a ticking clock of your router's system up-time.

The widget isn't ugly, but it needs work--especially multiple view modes. For example, the Windows Vista Gadget version doesn't run in the sidebar, only when detached and floating on the desktop. Even on the desktop, for a widget, this thing is absolutely huge at 350 pixels horizontally (that picture is not full size).

Network Monitor works with the following D-Link Xtreme N model routers: DIR-625, DIR-628, DIR-655, DIR-825, DIR-855, and DGL-4500. The router might need a firmware upgrade to communicate with the widget.