decrease data usage

Paulieb · 16 Feb 2018

Hi everyone.

I'm new to the forum and have recently purchased a new laptop which is running windows ten. While the OS is not bad (my old laptop was win7) I am experiencing great difficulty when connecting to the internet. I am on a limited data plan and find that my new PC is eating through my allowance with frightening rapidity.
Aside from AVG (free) Networx and malwarebytes, I have not installed any programmes.

Here's what I've tried to try and throttle the usage:

I have removed many of the apps which came with the laptop.

I have turned the 'metered connection' setting to 'on'

None of these measures has seen any significant decrease data usage.

Does anyone have any ideas and suggestions as to how I can keep the data being sent to/from microsoft to an absolute minimum?

If I installed win7 or even linux on a flash drive could I boot my system from that instead of 10 and, if so, would ten not work in the background (and continue to 'steal' my data allowance?)

As far as I'm concerned it has reached the point where I am going to have to not use my PC on the internet and rely on my tablet instead. It is a sorry state of affairs when microsoft does not make any allowances for their customers who are on limited data plans.

Samuria · 16 Feb 2018

Welcome to the forum. It's possible this is a short term problem as the PC will be way out of date it's likely it down loading lots of updates if you goto setting then check for updates see how much it needs to download. It may be worth going to local spot with free WiFi and running all the updates. If your PC has secure boot you may not be able to boot Linux

Paulieb · 20 Feb 2018

Thanks for that. I think I've figured out the problem. I'm just trialling it for a couple of days and will post my solution if it works.

RickC · 20 Feb 2018

Samuria's post (#2) about taking your laptop to somewhere with internet access is, IMO, very good advice.

My own experience of many, many Win 10 installs (monitored with both NetWorx and GlassWire) is that the first 24 hours after initial installation can show gigabytes of data being downloaded... but this then falls off very rapidly to a very small (fairly regular) 'heartbeat'.

As a potential 'quick fix' whilst you wait to get to somewhere with free access, try using O&O's ShutUp10.

If you use Apply all settings from ShutUp10's Actions menu dropdown then NetWorx should show most (not all) of Win 10-specific network traffic curtailed:

decrease data usage-shutup10_categories.jpg

It may give you a breathing space whilst you gain experience of Win 10's default settings/read up on them... like its default peer-to-peer network service which uploads Windows Update data from your PC to strangers' PCs on the internet using your data plan.

I wish I could give you more feedback ('cos I've been testing this exact same scenario just recently). Unfortunately the site I usually post on/to is down at the moment.

Note that Microsoft makes heavy use of CDNs (Content Delivery Networks) like Akamai to update Win 10 and keep it current.

You may wish to read these tutorials:

Hope this helps...

Paulieb · 21 Feb 2018

Thanks for that. It is most helpful. I'll post my findings shortly.