Adding the System Monitor Applet

To add the system monitor applet to one of your panels (I prefer the top panel), simply right-click and select “Add to Panel”.  Scroll down until you see “System Monitor: A system load indicator”.  Select it and select Add.  You should now have a small black box on your panel which will monitor cpu activity.

I like to take this one step further and also monitor memory, network, load average, swap and disk activity.  This can be done by right-clicking on the new applet and selecting “Preferences”.  At the top of this preferences window you have the options of activating the resources you wish to monitor.  I check all of these boxes.

As you check each one you’ll get an additional box in your panel.  Each one monitors something different and in a different color (customizable).  You can now, at a glance, see the cpu load, network usage and all the rest without running any additional applications.

I find this to be a quick, efficient and out-of-the-way method of monitoring my machine.