Data Usage

ehastings · 17 Jan 2017

Was hoping of some help. When I go into my network settings and click data usage, it tells me 232 GB of ethernet, but when I open up the usage details, the app usage only totals 40 GB when added up. Can anyone explain why there would be such a huge discrepancy?

Just for context, my provider said I was using 50 to 100 GB for the last year and a half and now I am using 225-250 GB/month the last two months. I'm trying to figure out why.

Caledon Ken · 17 Jan 2017

Welcome to the TenForums @ehastings

Goto to settings, updates and security, advance options, choose how updates are delivered. In that window look at the bottom section about Updates, where you get and send. How is yours set?

Windows Update - Choose how you Download in Windows 10

ehastings · 18 Jan 2017

PCs on my local network.

Wullail · 18 Jan 2017

With that option set , If you have other win 10 PCs on your network , your PC will be sending/sharing the updates to them also when they're doing the update.

Caledon Ken · 18 Jan 2017

Great. I was concerned it was set to send updates outside your network. Since you noted the data usage increase have you starting "Syncing" with external sources in any serious way, Onedrive, Drop Box, Box. Your supplier counts inbound and outbound traffic.

Do you have any streaming services running?

Have you done any AV scans with products like Malwarebytes from Malwarebytes.com. You supplier likely would have shut you down if you were sending out spam but worth a check.

ehastings · 18 Jan 2017

No streaming services. Nothing syncing except for email. I have checked for viruses and spam. I use bitdefender 2017 and have also run a Malwarebytes scan. Nothing there.

Caledon Ken · 18 Jan 2017

Well not sure what to make of it. The Windows updates are big but not +150GB / month big.

If you open task manager, click on Network tab, sort by usage, most usage at top, does anything stand out.

Is your bitdefender new (ish). My Norton offers to make backups in the cloud, again though this is a lot of data.

Is your computer set up such that others can get to internet through your machine, like a hotspot.

See if you get lucky and find the activity is task manager.

Maybe another member following this thread can suggest a sysinternals tools.

ehastings · 18 Jan 2017

The highest usage is a torrent client for 30 GB, the browser for 17 and the system for 1 GB in the last 30 days. The rest are under a gig.

No one can get to the internet from my computer. Wifi is password protected and I checked with my provider and they told me the devices they see attached and they are mine. However, they cannot tell me which device used what data.

Bitddefender is newish and there is some correlation between its install and my data usage. However, I don't see a data backup option in the program and the network tool only shows 45 MB of usage for it in the last 30 days. Does anyone know if there is a possibility it is the Bitdefender somehow?

Also, as you suggested if anyone has further tools, that would be helpful as well. Thanks.

Caledon Ken · 19 Jan 2017

Did some searching and the first tool in this article may be what you need. I think you said when you looked at usage, the number you presented was from your machine. It had gone from below 50GB to over 200GB.

How to Monitor Your Internet Bandwidth Usage and Avoid Exceeding Data Caps

The second tool seems to be for collecting across devices.

Very interested to see what is churning through this data on your behalf. Please post back your thoughts on tool and if you found something, what it is / was.