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MASSIVE drain issue

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teejk01
New Member

MASSIVE drain issue

We have the 15gb/mo plan which we manage carefully (don't dare watch any movies or YouTube)...seems every month we lose a ton of allowance when nobody is using it. On the 10th of this month we lost 3+GB in 3 hours with nobody in the house and all devices turned off! Inquired, got a reply via E-mail (DO NOT REPLY) and a follow up call that quite frankly I couldn't understand a word of...too much "chatter" in the background from what I guess is a foreign based call center. Running Win 10 (set to "metered"). Using Norton Internet Security (set to "metered". Wireless secured router. How can I lose 3GB in that short amount of time with nobody here?
51 REPLIES 51
GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

I haven't really found the Windows 10 updates to have much of an impact, personally.  I have the two Windows 10 Pro computers that I keep up to date now, but even when I had the third (which I put W8.1 Home back on because it was too slow with W10 Home) I still wasn't using that much data. 

As we speak my desktop is downloading some W10 updates, so I will update my laptop in a little bit, too, but again, I've not found it to have much of an impact on my data usage.  The worst month I ever had was the month where I had to update all three with the Anniversary update, but even then I didn't use more than seven or eight GBs total for the month (including Bonus Bytes). 

Chris11
Alum

Hi tkohlman,

I understand your frustration, however as mentioned, there isn't much we can do. When W10 first released, we did have something in place mainly because we knew how much of an impact W10 would be, all at once to our customers. That alone was a huge endeavor on our part and I am glad that we were able to provide some relief to our customers. At this point in the manner of which you explained it would just not be a possibility. Although I'm sure we can provide some insight.

First, how are you connected to the internet on those machines? As mentioned through a WiFi connection, you can set the operating system to metered for services like ours with data caps. You would also be able to postpone updates in various ways. So, there are options built in at this point, that weren't known before release. We can certainly help you configure this with a bit more info. Looking forward to your reply.

Thanks,
Chris
tkohlman
New Member

Hi Chris, our 2 computers are both connected via a wireless router and we have them both set to "metered" connections. Both machines are Win10 "Home version" and as far as I can tell that unlike the "pro" version, the "home" version lacks the ability to use MS scheduler.  I have a 18 page article on my desk that tries to get into the specifics of eliminating the problem but it looks like editing the registry will be required. The other thing I noticed (and this article mentions it) is that some updates will restore the factory defaults so I'll have to back and check that. I'll report back. 
tkohlman
New Member

Ok...I see that Norton "economy mode" shut it self off. And in the meantime under "Windows-settings", "network and internet", "data usage" I see that in the past 30 days I utilized 18GB of data, 16GB attributed to Microsoft Edge! That can't possibly be correct can it? It certainly would not line up with the Hughesnet status meter usage especially if that is solely my desktop machine (i.e. does not include my wife's laptop). Any thoughts? Going through the list of apps now and have turned off back-ground operations on everything and am going further in uninstalling all the junk that apparently got packaged with other apps.  Still haven't figured out how to get notified when Windows wants to update (my wife does get notified, not that it matters because at some point in time they seem to "push" the update regardless.  
Chris11
Alum

Hi tkohlman,

Check out this article. It lays out how to disable update services without having to have too much tech experience. This just targets the service itself and disables it. Which you can then re-enable at a specific time of the week/day.

https://mspoweruser.com/turn-off-windows-update-windows-10/

As for the data usage displayed. The status meter and Windows do not count data usage in the same manner. However it does seem odd that it would be that much. Are you an Ultra plan customer? Also, is edge browser the main browser you use?

- Chris
tkohlman
New Member

Hi Chris, 
Thanks for that article. I have spent several months on a Windows "community" board and that option has been discussed but highly discouraged and as such nobody ever bothered to explain how to get there (it's hardly "intuitive"). I get up pretty early in the morning so I can push my updates into the "bonus" Window (like the "good old days" except I won't know if there are any updates to be had until I undo the "disable"). In the meantime I have also compared my settings to my wife's settings and don't know why she gets a notification that updates are available for download (I don't). In her case she takes her computer to work at the local library and let's it run. As for being an "ultra plan" customer, I don't think so. Never needed it because we usually end the billing cycle with 5-6 GB "anytime" and 45+GB "bonus" remaining. I think that is going to change with the last Window's updates...watching the status meter I think something changed and the everyday "leakage" seems to be increasing. I did shut off all that "background syncing" stuff...both machines are "local" machines and hence we have no need for "clouds". And yeah...I use Edge solely because it operates more like IE that I was used to. Time to start using Chrome if the Windows stats are correct...Edge doesn't appear to be friendly to "metered" service.   
C0RR0SIVE
Associate Professor

For [snoots] n giggles...  The first types of "decent" computer memory was nothing more than a string of metal that was twisted to store a single bit.  Wait... Why do I even know that? xD

[edited for profanity -Amanda]
Gwalk900
Honorary Alumnus

If you have a Nvidia video card you might wish to take a peek at Windows task scheduler and see if its latest driver is sharing "telemetry".
It is said to use a large amount of data.

http://www.ghacks.net/2016/11/07/nvidia-telemetry-tracking/
Chris11
Alum

Hi tkohlman,

That's a nice catch Gwalk. As for the Edge browser. It is fairly new, I'm not sure how well it works with data management. Chrome on the other hand allows you to install extensions like ad blockers which remove most non essential data hogging ads and streaming. I also have Windows10 and although I don't ever use edge, I've seen recently that a quick pop up and notification has been present, trying to every so often persuade me to use it. I'm sure this service alone could be using data in the background periodically, since I've only seen this recently after a windows update.

I'm sure it's a good browser, but I don't trust it at the moment. I would switch back to Chrome as well.

- Chris
GabeU
Distinguished Professor IV

tkohlman,

You mentioned that you use Edge due to it being like IE, which is what you are used to.  Is there a reason why you aren't using IE?  It's still usable in Windows 10, and although they aren't going to be releasing any more versions of it, the present one (IE11) is still getting security updates. 

Also, mentioned above, it would be a great idea to install Glasswire, which will tell you just what is using data on each Windows computer it's installed on.  If you already have it installed from being talked about months ago, disregard this. 

   

 https://www.glasswire.com/


Lastly, you said that this problem recently crept it's ugly head again.   Have you checked to make sure that your syncing and "updates from more than one place" haven't been on, or at least turned back on somehow.  Both of those can use a LOT of data, especially the updates from more than one place if it's set to share with everyone on the net. 

Lastly again, regarding Edge, it's still a "work in progress."  I, personally, don't trust it.  I use IE and Chrome, but Chrome more and more every day.