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How do you find the data hog?


BrianT

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I have a data hog somewhere. And I haven't been able to figure out where.

 

I didn't have that problem with my previous computer. So far, I've turned off automatic updates and it is very basic browsing. No movies, no videos, no large picture files. I'm talking email, Facebook, weather, a half dozen forums, and just general surfing.

 

It's the kind of stuff I did day after day on my old competed and I rarely went over 3 or 4 G a month.

 

It's become easy to go through 1 to 2 Gig of data a day!! That is absurd. And I just can't figure out where its going. And yes, I am using a password on the hotspot.

 

I do find that using the same websites through just the smartphone (this forum being an example, I'm typing / pecking out letters now), I use very little data. But turning on the hotspot and running the computer, the data floodgates open wide.

 

I've run CCleaner, Malwarebytes, and Windows Defender. No change.

 

I have to be missing something.

 

Any ideas? I can't afford to blow through this much data and my smartphone is too small to do much reading on.

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This is exactly what Networx will help you find and it is free - https://www.softperfect.com/products/networx/.

2004 40' Newmar Dutch Star DP towing an AWD 2020 Ford Escape Hybrid, Fulltimer July 2003 to October 2018, Parttimer now.
Travels through much of 2013 - http://www.sacnoth.com - Bill, Diane and Evita (the cat)
 

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Facebook can be a biggie also. Go into settings and tell FB not to automatically play videos.

Trish & Raquel

--------

"Road Runner" -- 2005 Volvo VNL780, 500hp Cummins ISX, Ultra-Shift, ET-Hitch, 198" wb

"Wile E." -- 2013 Heartland Landmark San Antonio

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Have already done the FB thing and don't automatically play videos. Will have to be mindful of weather.com but usually don't play much video there, especially since they don't seem to have their usual forecasts handy. I'm generally looking at the 10 day outlook and the hourly for our vacinity, especially with the cold nights we've been having.

 

Thanks for the input!

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Interesting!

 

Poked around on the various forums. Watched as the data seemed to tick off on 10 to 20 MB chunks, at least according to the NetWorx usage report display. Hmmn, looked like just forums like this one were bigger than I thought.

 

But... I closed down the browser and nothing should have been uploading or downloading. And yet every minute or so, the display kept adding more data.

 

I really don't think even the hidden stuff here would blow through 20MB of data in less than 2 minutes.

 

Something must be on my computer that's working through the data that I don't know about. Any suggestions on how to find what apps have access? (Running Windows 8.0)

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Have disallowed just about everything I thought I could from getting through the firewall. It helped. Still seems like a lot of data moving, though. Seriously, should posting this reply here take 29MB of data? That's what it says I've used so far, and I haven't even hit the "Post" button yet. (And this is all I have running that I'm aware of.)

 

Still working on it...

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Almost all sites have some sort of video in their advertisements. It's supposed to draw our eyes to the ad and be amazed. It really just makes me angry. I will not purchase any item from a pop up add if I can help it. Oh how I would love to have ad free TV and Internet. I pay for my music channels to have that luxury, and in the early days of "Cable" you were supposed to have ad free movies when you paid to subscribe to HBO. It's been a long time since I subscribed but it got to where you had to endure over 30 minutes of "upcoming" movies and other "Offers" within HBO waiting on the next movie to be shown. I quit paying for that.

 

Rod

White 2000/2010Volvo VNL 770 with 7' Drom box with opposing doors,  JOST slider hitch. 600 HP Cummins Signature 18 Speed three pedal auto shift.

1999 Isuzu VehiCross retired to a sticks and bricks garage. Brought out of storage the summer of 2022

2022 Jeep Wrangler Sport S Two door hard top.

2007 Honda GL 1800

2013 Space Craft Mfg S420 Custom built Toyhauler

The Gold Volvo is still running and being emptied in July. 

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It is really amazing how much those video ads will use. I installed AdBlocker plus Click-to-Flash on my Mac and within a day I could see our data usage drop. The click to flash is really good for things like visiting news sites like CNN which assume that no one reads anymore and everyone wants to sit and watch videos of news programs. Gives us the option of watching if we are really interested (usually not) but otherwise we can just read (I know, what a concept B) ) items that we are interested in.

 

Also, did you just go from 3G to 4G? Things coming in faster means that you will have more video loading, etc., than you did under 3G (you would go one to another page, etc. before it loaded) so that might be some of the extra usage.

 

Barb

Barb & Dave O'Keeffe
2002 Alpine 36 MDDS (Figment II), 2018 Ford C-Max HYBRID
Blog: http://www.barbanddave.net
SPK# 90761 FMCA #F337834

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I am kind of confused. It seems to me that you are using your smartphone as a hotspot. If tht is correct, have you looked at updates that go on the smart phome also?

 

It seems as if both Android and Apple devices are constantly updating apps, if you let them. I'm always amazed how many apps my iPad and my phone keep asking me to update. Some appear to update only days after their last one.

Sandie & Joel

2000 40' Beaver Patriot Thunder Princeton--425 HP/1550 ft-lbs CAT C-12
2014 Honda CR-V AWD EX-L with ReadyBrute tow bar/brake system
WiFiRanger Ambassador
Follow our adventures on Facebook at Weiss Travels

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I deleted Facebook off of the iPad (didn't put it on the iPhone) as they do an update every 2 weeks! Now I only look at it about every month or so and really only have it because not all of my in-laws seem to be able to read a blog. Not sure why everyone thinks they have to update their apps so often - - but maybe there are a lot of little quirks that they fix that bother other people?

 

Barb

Barb & Dave O'Keeffe
2002 Alpine 36 MDDS (Figment II), 2018 Ford C-Max HYBRID
Blog: http://www.barbanddave.net
SPK# 90761 FMCA #F337834

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Like I said above, visiting all of my favorites on the smartphone uses very little data.

 

I shut off a BUNCH of stuff on the computer. Went from downloading 300MB in 3 or 4 minutes to downloading less than 10MB in over. 20 minutes.

 

Still playing with it.

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Several people have suggested "Adblock". If I install this does it block all video? Sometimes I would like to watch a news clip that is in an article. Does it allow me to do this?

 

Jim

Jim
SKP: 99693
If you think you can, or you think you can't. . . you are probably right (Henry Ford)
2014 Dodge 4WD Dually
1998 Carriage LS-341

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Several people have suggested "Adblock". If I install this does it block all video? Sometimes I would like to watch a news clip that is in an article. Does it allow me to do this?

 

Jim

Adblock Plus does not block the news clips, just the ad videos. But, there are addons that will block the news clips or keep them from loading until you want them.

2004 40' Newmar Dutch Star DP towing an AWD 2020 Ford Escape Hybrid, Fulltimer July 2003 to October 2018, Parttimer now.
Travels through much of 2013 - http://www.sacnoth.com - Bill, Diane and Evita (the cat)
 

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You may have already done this but I saved a lot of data use by going to the Win 8 Start Screen and right clicking on all the apps that connect to internet automatically (like "Calendar") and clicking "Turn live Tile Off". Of course that only works if you have Win 8 or 8.1.

Clay(WA5NMR), Lee(Wife), Katie & Kelli (cats)
Full timed for eleven years in our 2004 Winnebago Sightseer 35N Workhorse chassis. Snowbirds for 1 year. Now settled down in western CO.
Honda Accord toad.

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In addition to an ad blocker I recommend a script blocker, that also cuts out a good bit of data usage. Adding a web-bug and cookie blocker won't save a lot but since you'll have the other two in place adding them is just a couple clicks and will protect your privacy a bit.

 

 

If you are using Chrome I can give you my list of data saving extensions.

 

Adblock: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/adblock/gighmmpiobklfepjocnamgkkbiglidom (watch out for many similar names)

 

Script block: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/scriptsafe/oiigbmnaadbkfbmpbfijlflahbdbdgdf

 

Web bug block: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/ghostery/mlomiejdfkolichcflejclcbmpeaniij

 

 

And just to save cleaning out unwanted cookies I added this one: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/vanilla-cookie-manager/gieohaicffldbmiilohhggbidhephnjj

First rule of computer consulting:

Sell a customer a Linux computer and you'll eat for a day.

Sell a customer a Windows computer and you'll eat for a lifetime.

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Several people have suggested "Adblock". If I install this does it block all video? Sometimes I would like to watch a news clip that is in an article. Does it allow me to do this?

 

Jim

 

If you pair an adblock extension with a flash blocker, that should stop all videos. You can enable Flash on an individual basis, or whitelist a site to view Flash content.

 

 

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I failed to mention that I do have (and have had) AdBlock Plus.

 

But seriously, thank you all for the input! I have a few more things to look at. What I've done really has been a big help. And maybe with all of the input, the whole thread will be a help to others looking to reduce unnecessary bandwidth. Maybe it's like cheap gas or electric... when there's an abundance, wasting it doesn't seem like a big deal. With so many people able to burn through 50GB a day without batting an eye, worrying about an extra 300MB is trivial.

 

Thanks all!!

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