Constant network activity received at 8Kbps once every 1-3 weeks!?

As it stated in that MAlwarebytes link, what you are seeing is normal background chatter.

@RickC: Actually, that's not my screenshot. I followed this guide here. How To Turn Off Windows 10 Updates Permanently. - wintips.org - Windows Tips & How-tos
I know it is a backslash before neverupdatewindows10.com. This website is actually generic. I also followed a couple of years ago another youtube guide that suggested the same. What it's doing is setting it so that Windows is tricked into looking at this as the server.

I know that it's not scanning for windows 10 updates because the Event Viewer doesn't reflect scanning logs under WindowsUpdateClient tab. Event Viewer shows 0 Administrative Events. I also can see that when I turn on my PC the first thing would be upfc.exe Updateability From SCM and normally it would show network activity. But this is no longer showing it. So in theory this is supposed to be cutting off network activity to the MS servers. Also CNG Key Isolation no longer gets triggered which is typical when Windows would successfully scan for updates.

Now there are other servers. I'll admit that if I open start settings I did see MS Corporation IP address from Pune, India. But that's if I manually open settings.

bro67 said:

As it stated in that MAlwarebytes link, what you are seeing is normal background chatter.

Normal background chatter to be continuous 8Kbps received data doesn't seem normal to me. The fact that it would trigger randomly at Windows start up and not go away until I either disable and re-enable the Ethernet Adapter. If I unplug LAN cable and replug it that also doesn't stop the behaviour. But disabling and re-enabling the Adapter does get rid of this chatter.

How do you explain that for 1-4 months everything is fine and the Ethernet remains at 0 like this from startup?
If for most of the weeks on end when I turn on my PC it remains S: 0 and R: 0 Kbps then obviously what is considered as normal background chatter should give me information what is causing it.

The number of processes remain the same. And most of the times Netstat -b doesn't show any Active Connections. I tried Wireshark, but I don't know how to use it. It doesn't seem to be showing anything different. :S

In the past I have been using the same OS but never experienced this for 2+ years. It looks like some weird schedule but only that it happens once or twice every few weeks. I keep a log of the dates when I see it happen.

Some time last year when I uninstalled the printer driver and reinstalled around September 2022 I noticed it happened a month later. But I don't know if it is a coincidence. Nevertheless, it is not turned on at the time of these network activities when being randomly triggered.

Because I also upgraded my monitor to an AOC 165Hz last year of August 2022 as my Samsung 4K monitor began to malfunction after 7 years.

So from December 2021 to October 2022 never experienced any of this so-called normal background chatter. The next plan is to change ISP.

I have now also decided to test by setting Windows Update service to disabled along with Update Orchestrator service. But I remember all the settings were more or a less the same as before and it wasn't happening with old ISP TalkTalk. I switched to BT and I started experiencing this.

BLaZiNgSPEED said:

@RickC: Actually, that's not my screenshot.... I know it is a backslash before neverupdatewindows10.com. This website is actually generic... What it's doing is setting it so that Windows is tricked into looking at this as the server.

I'm out of here... unsubscribed.

Yes, normal network chatter will run that low all of the time.

bro67 said:

Yes, normal network chatter will run that low all of the time.

It would be normal if there was a definitive clue what is triggering this.

I just experienced it again yesterday after almost 2 months. There is a pattern of observation that I've noticed.

I kept a record of the times when it happened...
Sunday 08/01/2023 08:01:30

Friday 05/05/2023 (coincided with a new Corsair K55 Pro XT that I returned back and even uninstalled).

Monday 31/07/2023 12:25am

Sunday 24/09/2023 19:27pm

Sunday 19/11/2023 10:36pm

So from the last 10 months there has been 5 instances of this network activity of 8Kbps being received that doesn't go away on its own until I restart! Normal network chatter would not do this once every 2 months approximately. The tendency is that it seems to happen mostly on a Sunday!

The only observation I have noticed yesterday on computer start-up was Windows Update Medic Service. I'm not sure if this was the trigger for it or just a coincidence. But nevertheless, if I have disabled Windows Update from group policy editor there's no reason why Windows should trigger Windows Update Medic Service as part of a schedule. It is supposed to be a hidden schedule that did run that day in the morning at 3:57am but yet that same night I saw it again at 10:36pm when I turned on the computer.

I have decided to go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WaaSMedicSvc and set Start Value to 4 (Disabled). This will be my next observation.

If it happens again, I'll use Windows Update Blocker tool to disable the task schedules or reinstall windows. The Windows Update Task schedules are the only ones that cannot be normally disabled without using a third party tool to disable them.

I used CurrPorts and it was showing No Active connections with the same number of 21 active ports.