I have a home network setup, a laptop and a desktop.  I use internet
sharing to allow the laptop to connect to the internet via the desktop
ADSL connection.

As the desktop is the main connection it is easy to track how much of
my monthly allowance I am using, however I can't easily do that on my
laptop as it is connected thru the desktop.

People have told me that there are tools that I can load onto my
laptop that will allow me to track how many mb I am using when
connected, however I can't easily find them and the more I am
searching the more mb of my allowance I am chewing up.

My main reason for wanting this is that I have a 500mb plan and in the
first 2 days I have used 200mb and that has only been websurfing, ICQ
and email.  I haven't downloaded any mp3's or videos.

If it makes any difference I am in Australia, connected to ADSL with
Telstra
 

TIA

Hello again Anniswan!

This answer should be much easier for me to answer, as it has no
geographical preferences. (see our last meeting;-) I answered this
question despite the comment, because I did find many free options
that look very professional, and will save you a few dollars should
you decide use one of them.


Here are a few resources to get you started, listed with the price for
each:

Site  : Down2Home
URL   : http://home.tiscali.be/yuc-joachim/
Price : FREE


Site  : Idyle Bandwidth monitor
URL   : http://www.idyle.com/software/internet/bandwidth-monitor/
Price : Free Evaluation then $19.95


This one is a little more complex, but is free as well.

Site  : MetaProducts
URL   : http://www.metaproducts.com/mp/mpProducts_Detail.asp?id=20
Price : FREE


Site  : WebAttack
URL   : http://www.webattack.com/get/bandwidthmonitor.shtml
Price : FREE


To assist with this answer, I searched Google for:

"bandwidth monitor" software
://www.google.com/search?q=%22bandwidth+monitor%22+software


I hope this helps get you on the right track. I'm not happy until you
are, so please request clarification if I can be of further
assistance!

SgtCory

Perhaps you should check out "DU Meter", which monitors the amount of
data transferred, you can try it for free during 30 days, and the full
version costs about 20 USD:

http://www.dumeter.com/