--- panel-plugin/netload.c	2009-05-14 17:03:57.987823647 +0000
+++ panel-plugin/netload.c.new	2009-05-14 17:04:10.663656158 +0000
@@ -237,6 +237,14 @@
 
     if (global->monitor->options.update_interval > 0)
     {
+        /* reduce the default tooltip timeout to be smaller than the update interval otherwise
+         * we won't see tooltips on GTK 2.16 or newer */
+        GtkSettings *settings;
+        settings = gtk_settings_get_default();
+        if (g_object_class_find_property(G_OBJECT_GET_CLASS(settings), "gtk-tooltip-timeout"))
+            g_object_set(settings, "gtk-tooltip-timeout",
+                global->monitor->options.update_interval - 10, NULL);
+
         global->timeout_id =  g_timeout_add( global->monitor->options.update_interval, 
             (GtkFunction)update_monitors, global);
     }